As the baseball season is arriving, many high schoolers and college players find themselves asking how to improve their baseball skills. While you are ready to represent your team or division in your custom baseball uniforms, there is always room to improve and master your techniques.
As Malcolm Gladwell quotes, “it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill”. Increasing the intensity of your practices comes first and foremost. You might not be born to hit homers like Albert Pujols or with the ability to steal bases like prodigy Rickey Henderson. However, using the right and proper techniques you can upgrade your skills and level up your baseball game too. Here are some important tips to greatly improve your baseball skills.
A Must-Follow Routine
Starting off with things every baseball player needs to do every day. Whether it is a game day, off day, or practice day, every player must follow this routine. The very first thing is working on your movement and defensive stance. Doing this keeps you in the flow and routine even when you suffer from fatigue from a long game or back-to-back game. Practice your defensive stance for five minutes every day to develop better leg strength.
In addition, study the game every day without fail. Your study could be different every day, Somedays, you might be learning tips and tricks to follow. On other days you might find yourself working on your mental health or monitoring your game videos and evaluating and comparing your moves. This will help you to constantly find the room where you are lacking or areas of improvement. And of course get your hands on the best custom baseball uniforms to perform well in the field.
Improve Your Hitting
Every baseball hitter wants to improve their power to hit more home runs and crush more doubles and singles. The first thing to improve your hitting is to work on your walkthrough. Make sure you take one step where you invert your back foot. Your main goal should be to create momentum with separation while maintaining balance. A slow and controlled tempo is the key, balance creates power, but most importantly directing your ball towards the middle of the field enables you to hit the ball with power.
Another important tip is to sync your breathing with your hitting movements. Exhale your breath when you are contacting the ball. That would help you to deliver the most power into your shot. In addition, hitting the ball at the right spot makes a huge difference in the power of your hit. When you make contact at the proper contact point, your swing is going to be most efficient at that point with the most strength and power at that point. If the pitch is inside, make sure to contact a little bit more out of the plate and more towards the pitcher, than you normally do in the middle pitch or an outside pitch.
Moreover, to maximize your power with a backspin, hit your baseball slightly below its equator or midpoint. Make sure the hit is not too low. The timing here is crucial. Lastly, include rotational exercises in your routine to improve your rotational power.
Improve your Pitching
You can improve your pitching with some slider, sinker, and cutter to make your hitter look silly. A slider is different from a curve ball in terms of grip and movements during a throw. An efficient slider is making sure to have a two-point plane, horizontal and vertical, during motion. The preferred spin for the slider is having a “dot on a ball” spin which is deceptive for hitters to see. Make sure to hold your ball with your middle finger at the pressure point to have an effective slider.
A cutter is a fastball that cuts to your glove side. For an effective sinker, you want to cut for your arms side, but for the cutter, it is the opposite. Making sure to repeat the fastball mechanics while holding the ball with the middle finger on the outside. This put more pressure on the middle finger than your pointer finger and will produce friction that will cause an effective spin.
Also, improving the consistency of your delivery will increase your accuracy of pitching. Having repeatable delivery will help you have more control of where you want to put your ball. In addition, visualizing your target in your routine for five minutes a day will further improve your target accuracy of pitching. In addition, having good body control and body balance will is essential for great pitching.
Throw Harder
Whether you are a pitcher, an infielder, or an outfielder, you would prefer throwing harder with improved velocity. The first tip to improve your velocity for a nice throw is “back-side leg hops”. Make sure to get into the position with your two feats slightly apart. Next thing is to get on your balance point, even if you are not a pitcher, and hop on your back leg thrice, without lowering your front leg. When you are on your third hop, make sure to jump on your front leg and make a strong throw. This hops movement followed by a jump will exclude your full body strength in the throw. Make sure to lead with your hip while you are jumping in your third hop. Do not lead your jump with your leg or your shoulder flying open. You can practice this to incorporate it into your regular throw routine.
The next important tip for an effective throw is “effective weight transfer.” For this, your front foot should be at a 45-degree angle and maintain your body in a position where you act like you just threw a ball. This position helps you to center your body. To throw the ball, make sure to rock forward a little first, then rock back with your front foot coming up, and then explode forward for a nice powerful throw. The custom baseball uniforms you and your team wears also plays a great part in improving your throw. The more comfortable they are the better you can play.
Conclusion
If you want to master your skills in baseball, practice, and practice hard like you’re playing a real game, without any excuse. Analyze your performance to massively improve your skills. Finally, never fail to follow instructions from your coach and your fitness expert in all aspects as well as wearing the best custom baseball uniforms.
