How to Hit a Ball Thrown Inside

One of the most important things players can do is make sure they hit the ball at the right point, which is called the contact point. To do so, you need to let the baseball travel to the spot where you can make the most solid contact. You don’t want to be out in front of a pitch, resulting in a weak pop-up, fly ball or a ground ball.

For an inside pitch, you want to make contact farther out in front of home plate. To practice this, start in your normal batting stance. You can then move the tee to be on the inner half of the plate. It should also be 6″-12″ in front of home plate, or where your front stride foot will land when taking your swing. This is where you want to make contact in order to hit the baseball hard, while keeping it in fair territory.

If you let the baseball travel any more toward the catcher, you may not make contact on the barrel or you will be jammed by the pitch. If you make contact even farther out in front, it will be very challenging to keep the ball fair. Envision yourself hitting line drives to the pull side of the field when practicing this swing off of the tee. Practicing hitting inside pitches could help eliminate the habit of “stepping in the bucket” instead of back toward the pitcher.

Remember, the pitcher determines where you hit the ball. You don’t try to steer it in a certain direction. If the pitcher throws it inside, you want to drive the baseball to your pull side, which is dependent on whether you are right-handed or left-handed.