5 Ways To Improve Your Offensive Game During The Off-Season

1. USING A TEE or Other Hitting Aid With A Stationary Ball - Impact/Punching Bag, backspin tee, Swing-Away, etc, but remember to slow your swing down to work on the movement, not on your power...yet.

2. LEARN TO TAKE A LEAD Base running can be just as important an offensive weapon as hitting. Often times taking an extra base can be the difference between a win and a loss in a close game. During the winter, all that's needed for this drill is one bag. Players can then learn to practice taking their leads. A good base runner eventually knows exactly how large of a lead to take without being picked off. Players should learn to get comfortable with their leads off the base without having to look back as they are moving off. Learning how to take a lead can eventually lead to taking that extra base, or scoring the winning run.

3. READING SIGNS AS YOU RUN The key to good base running is never looking down. One way to learn how to properly run without looking is to find a long hallway, or path. Pick out some sort of sign located farther down the hallway/path and start running while never peeling your eyes off the sign. This drill helps players keep their eyes up at all times and have more of an awareness of what's going on around them. In time, they'll learn to follow the signs of their base coaches with their eyes as well.

4. LEARNING TO KEEP THE BAT INSIDE THE BALL (attack from the inside) This drill incorporates the use of a bat and anything that can be set up between the player and the plate and easily moved. Start by placing the object, a tee or pool noodle, just behind the trail foot and at the point of the plate. As you become better at not hitting the object, move it close to the inside part of the plate towards you and slightly in front of your trail foot. See a demonstration on my YouTube Channel: https://youtu.be/m7EzMrnj7Mk

5. SIMPLY USING A MIRROR It may sound silly, but practicing your swing in front of a mirror can yield great benefits. As mentioned above, proper repetition is an important component to developing a proper and effective swing. By practicing a swing in front of a mirror, hitters can quickly find flaws and work to correct them.