So you are wondering how to Increase Baseball bat Speed as the bat speed is the important aspect for any baseball player and the more your swing is faster, the more your ball is hit harder. But increasing your bat speed is not rocket science and can be achieved through some drills, exercises and practice.
This article will help you understand the science behind the art of swinging your bat and various ways by which you can increase your baseball bat speed quickly.
It is a common misconception that using a lighter bat alone helps you achieve faster bat speeds, but that is not the only solution, you need to perfect your stand, your grip and work on your strength to achieve incredible bat speed.
So read on to learn more about the techniques you need to follow:
Work on Your Batting Mechanism
Stance Is Important
- Your stance plays a key role in generating maximum power to swing your bat. The perfect stance to achieve this by standing with your legs apart about your shoulder width with bent knees and your butt lowered a bit, so that your back is straightened. With this kind of an athletic stance, you can generate maximum power.
Have a Proper Grip on to the Bat
- A proper grip doesn’t mean you need to grip your bat tightly. You need to hold it somewhat loosely. Don’t hold your bat too high, as you may lose control and don’t try to bury your bat into your palms, the push won’t be too smooth.
Drop Your Elbow
- To increase your batting speed, you need to drop your front elbow down and make sure your bat is held at a 45 degree angle behind your head. If your front elbow is held high, then you need to bring your bat further down and it could probably decrease your bat speed.
Be Relaxed
- Be relaxed and cool. Some believe that getting tensed helps you to concentrate more, but tensing up yourselves will only get your energy go wasted. So save all your energy for that perfect swing.
Use Your Whole Body
Have you seen a discus thrower swirling around two to three times before throwing the discus? The reason they swirl around is generate enough torque to generate the maximum power to the discus to the maximum distance. In baseball too, the power not only comes from your hands, but it is the power that gets generated from your legs, hips and then transferred to your hands. So involve your entire body to generate the maximum.
The Follow through
- The perfect swing with maximum power is achieved when you complete your swing. Yes, imagine swinging your bat completely and the ball is only in the middle. If you think of stopping your swing in the middle, then your swing won’t be as powerful as it could when you complete it fully.
Practice Some Drills For A Faster Swing
Use a Light Bat
If you want to achieve maximum speed with your swing, then try to practice swinging using a lighter bat. Now try swinging with the bat as fast you can and do this exercise three times a week of five times each.
Practice Near A Fence
A compact or a short swing is what generates maximum speed. To make sure that your swing is compact, stand near a fence and measure the swing distance and then swing toward the fence. If your bat hits the fence means that you are over reaching or dragging too long. Make sure your complete 20 reps a time for three times in a week to achieve that compact swing.
Cross Your Hands
Your hands should be in a cross position to achieve that maximum swing. Try hitting balls thrown at you to get the perfect hold of your bat and see which wrist position helps you to transfer the power on to your bat.
Practice, Practice and Practice Swinging
Practice makes perfection and there is no better alternative to that. So keep on practice your swinging as many times you can to see if you complete your swing or get that compact and powerful swing.
Adding Strength to Achieve Improved Batting Speed
More Power To Your Legs
The Power for your swing gets generated from legs first. So you need your legs to be stronger enough to generate the maximum power needed for that perfect swing. Provide special attention to your legs during your daily exercise routine.
- Go for Leg Presses: In the leg press machine, make sure you sit down and lay your feet flat on the platform and the legs separated at shoulder width. Now start your exercise by pushing the weight upwards and exhale when you push up and inhale when you come down. Do twenty reps of 3 times a week for stronger legs.
- Go for Squats: This is a basic exercise which you do every day. Stand with your legs apart and make sure your back is straight. Now slowly lower your buttocks to a position like sitting in a chair. Always keep your body straight and push your chest out. And you must focus on pushing the weight on heels and don’t lean forward. You can even hold dumbbells during the squat.
Stronger Abdominals
The stronger your abdominals are the more powerful you’re your twisting motion will be. And if your twisting motion is powerful, your swing will come out more powerful too. To gain stronger abdominals, hold a weight in front of your face and twist your abdominals alone in side to side motion, keeping your body still in the process. You can even lay down on your back and imagine how a windshield wiper works, in that way, lower your legs in a side by side motion. Keep your hands stretched out on the sides for balance.