Well time for this week’s biog and I have to spend it on singing the praises of a thing called the SoloHitter.
I get no commission, but my understanding is every MLB team has at least one. I have had one for over 15 years and I love it.
What is the SoloHitter? It’s a device that essentially hangs a ball in the air in front of a net. You hit the ball, and it bounces against the net.
So who cares?
Well, suddenly you can watch batters hit a ball and see where it goes without
A. having to pitch it perfectly
B. having to go chase the ball
So sure you can set up a T and a hitting net, but the ball just gets gobbled into the net. Here you get to see exactly where it goes. And you can easily raise and lower the height of the ball with just a string instead of messing around with a T. The really good T’s make this easy, but they are not cheap.
The SoloHitter isn’t cheap, but the diagnostic value is really something. And there’s something to be said for hitting a moving ball — you can have the batter keep hitting with the ball sort of floating around.
Zillions of drills. I have a bunch on the website. Just look under hitting. The easiest drill is just to have them swing and see where it goes. Next, swing with just one hand and then the other hand. this lets you see if there’s a big problem with one hand or the other. Make sure they choke up a lot with this one.
Then you have the shuffle-step and swing. This gets some momentum going and helps batters see what it feels like to really get a powerful swing. The list goes on, but these will get you started.
Why do I blog about it now? At the last practice the zipper on the bag fell off — very sad as I replaced the bag about 8 years ago. So I had to hunt to find another one and I found this site….https://www.oaksbatterup.com/about-us/ There you have it — a site that carries the beloved solo hitter….https://www.oaksbatterup.com/solohitter-tournament-3000-model/
Enjoy – this site sells it for $218 — I think I bought mine for around $150 a long time and the thing lasts forever. I replace some hardware every now and then, but they last, they fit into most SUV’s pretty easily, and they roll nicely with wheels. I can set it up in about 3-4 minutes. I don’t use it every practice, but it’s nice. I even got an attachment that turns it into a pitching target, but that’s for another day.
