Zone Hitting Drill

He is a great drill to demonstrates train hitters to drive the ball to the correct area of the field depending on where it’s pitched.

In the video clip below In the video clip below Jim Gantt, Catawba College Head Coach (over 680 career wins; 7x South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year; 2015 National Runner-up.) has his players demonstrate a Zone Hitting drill that he utilizes to help his hitters create a plan at the plate.

Coach Gantt wants his team to drive the ball into specific gaps depending on the location of the pitch. He numbers the zones that pitches are in as follows:

Zone 1 – Down and Away

Zone 2 Down and In

Zone 3 Up and Away

Zone 4 Up and In.

During the drill, he asks that they drive each pitch to a specific gap depending on the zone that the pitch was in. After the swing he requires the players to verbally state the zone they believed the pitch was in.

Here are the gaps that he has his players hit into:

Zone 1- Between 2nd baseman and the pitcher’s mound

Zone 2 – Between the shortstop and pitcher’s mound

Zone 3 – Right-Center gap

Zone 4- Left-Center gap

If the players gets a pitch down the middle he wants them to drive it back up the middle.

This drill helps the player recognize pitch location and gives him a plan on what he should do with the ball in each locaction.

This drill was taken from Coach Gantt DVD. For more information about that DVD click the link Situational Hitting & Baserunning Strategies.

The YouTube video below has audio, so please make sure that your speakers are on and the volume is turned up. Note that some schools block access to YouTube.