Baseball Tip

Presented by Harry Oringer, Camp Director

Improve your timing with the 3 Plate Drill

The 3 Plate Drill is a great drill to work on your timing. It will offer batters the chance to work on hitting pitches from three different distances.

The purpose: hand-eye coordination and timing with pitches. To get this drill setup, you will need a batting cage and 3 home plates. Place one home plate 20 feet from the pitcher, then 15 feet and a close one at 10 feet. Obviously, the pitcher should stand behind a net and can throw the balls over hand or toss them underhand. The batter hits 3 pitches at each plate starting from 20ft. and then progressing forward.

It is important that the pitcher throws balls all at the same speed no matter which plate the batter is at. The pitches basically get treated as change-ups or off speeds from the furthest distance and a fastball at the closest distance. The biggest thing to take from this drill is mastering the timing as the pitches get closer and faster. Coach Oringer of Nike Baseball Camp Endicott College emphasizes the importance of loading your stance correctly and timing your movement towards the pitch. This will develop the ability to adjust because if not, your eye level and rhythm of your swing gets all thrown off.

Learn more baseball tips and skills to enhance your swing at Nike Baseball Camp.