Because of the recent pandemic, people are forced to stay at home. As a baseball player, this may be a nightmare situation for you. Not only are your future games postponed, but you can’t head to the field or gym either to practice and work out. Fortunately, there are a lot of great routines that can help bring out your inner Randy Johnson or Babe Ruth from the comfort of your own home. Here are some of them.
Don’t Forget Warm-Ups
Whether you’re planning on just practicing for 15 minutes or hours on end, you should never forget to warm up. Run a few laps around your yard or jog on a treadmill to work up a sweat. This increases your body temperature, which may improve your muscle performance and reaction time. Apart from this, you should do arm and leg swings, stretches, lunges, and squats. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Sports Medicine Department has a great guide to doing these exercises.
Pitching Drills
You don’t need a lot of space to improve the speed and accuracy of your throws. You only need a ball, a speed pitch cage, and your yard.
Improve Your Balance and Posture
Go in front of a mirror and do your wind-up form. Hold the part before your kick. Make sure your leg is at least aligned with your waist or higher. Do this until you can hold the position for at least 10 seconds without losing your balance. This minimizes the accidentally inaccurate throws you may make because you lost your footing.
Strike Zone Practice
Set up your speed pitch booth and create a strike zone on the backdrop with a marker or some duct tape. Start throwing different kinds of pitches from the corners of the zone, making your way into the center. This drill improves your accuracy and confidence in your throws, so don’t be afraid to repeat this drill as much as you can. Plus, if your cage comes with a radar gun, you can practice adjusting the speed of your throws, too.
Hitting Practice
No batting cage, no problem. All you need is an open space in your home, adjustable tees, and a bunch of baseballs to improve your swing.
The Harold Reynolds Swing Program
Former Seattle Mariners star hitter Harold Reynolds recently posted his at-home swinging routine on social media. He did five slugs in different parts of the strike zone with only his right hand first, then his left hand, and then both his hands. He explained that this practice not only improves your swing in different quadrants of the strike zone, but it also builds strength in your hands, forearms, and abs.
Improve Your Accuracy with Tees
One of the most common bad habits that hitters have is swinging too low. If you’re struggling with this, try setting up a tee about one foot and six inches behind your usual tee. Adjust this back tee’s height so that it’s about half a foot higher than the one in front. When you do your hit, avoid striking the back tee. This will condition you to swing higher towards the ball and end up with a cleaner and more consistent hit.
The stay-at-home orders mean that you can’t visit the field or even the batting range. However, it shouldn’t stop you from improving your game. While these pitching and batting routines are simple, each practice session takes you a few steps closer to a grand slam.