If strength needs to be improved, it is in the hands and wrists.Use your body… it will help as well.All players, big and small, can hit for distance when using their body.You can use your hips first, hands at the end, with a powerful action.  

It is imperative that the batter develops a quick pivot and quick hands.

Many young players never develop power because they are taught to just “meet the ball.” It’s a common phrase from baseball coaches. As a result, many hitters stop their hands during baseball hitting drills on contact and they never hit through the ball.

A hitter must be aggressive. Hitting is controlled aggression, while maintaining balance and control

Another problem young hitters have comes from watching baseball on TV.Baseball players will learn bad mechanics and let the top hand go too early.Finish your hitting stroke with both hands.Be careful not to let them go too soon.

Add to this the problem that many players are taught how to hit a baseball by getting their hands out over the plate on contact.Some times this is as a result of being taught incorrectly to get extension over the plate.Extension does not occur on contact, but rather after contact.When hitters try to extend on contact, it is like sawing wood, using too much arms and shoulders. This method will not power the ball.

In order to learn how to hit for power in baseball the hitter has to get his hands out in front of the body to contact the ball, with the top hand over the bat, and the bottom hand under the bat. The top hand is then like a hammer on contact.

Using the hands like this will increase bat speed at least 30-40% more than the arm swing. 

Baseball Hitting Tips:

1. A strong body
2. Quick hips
3. Especially quick hands, out front on contact
4. Hitting through the ball
5. Being aggressive 

Former Tulane Hall of Fame Baseball Coach, Joe Brockhoff, fully explains his baseball hitting tips with the Super 8 Hitting System, completely demonstrated with videos and hitting drills to help you hit with more power and raise your batting average.

“Get your back elbow and keep it up!”  was his main cry. 

“Get the back elbow “ is one of the most common statements used to instruct young hitters.How can this make a hitter better? Why do coaches around baseball teach this?

I asked, “Coach, is this how you teach and prepare for a baseball game?” 

He answered , “Yes, when they finish their practice.”

Then I asked, ”Coach, why do you tell your players to get the back elbow up?”

And he answered honestly, “I really don’t know why.  But everyone teaches it.So I teach it to.”

Let’s explore some baseball hitting mechanics.What happens when the back elbow is up as the hitter goes to the ball.Many students who come to me will have their elbow up, and we will immediately adjust the elbow so that it is not up, but approximately 45° from touching the backside. 

By raising the elbow to 90°, we change the grip on the top hand, making the knuckles over-rotated, and unless the hitter makes an adjustment, prior to contact, this grip will cause him to roll his hands, losing club head accuracy to the ball.

What about MLB players?Have you looked at one on TV and viewed them keeping their back elbow up?Professionals who begin with their back elbow up always make a stance adjustment as they make contact in the zone.

What should the back elbow be doing?It is there to support the top hand on the bat.If your elbow cannot do this if it is as high as the hand.It gives much better support to the grip and to the top hand by being under it—not equal to it.

When checking a hitter, as he approaches the ball, the elbow should be under the bat in the formation of a “V”—which we call a “Power-V”.This keeps the grip correct and the hands in a state of strength.

Youth Baseball Tips:  The role of the top elbow is to support the bat.You’ve lost support and your baseball mechanics fail when the elbow is up.We do not want this.

“Get the Back Elbow Up” is one of the worst things that you can tell your players.