Hitting the ball can be one of the hardest skills to learn when playing baseball. To improve your performance as a batter, you have to have visual skills that exceed those of the average person. According to the Sports Eyesight Visual Performance Training Center in Laguna Beach, California, when your visual skills are not up to par, it can have a tremendous impact on your eye-body, eye-foot and eye-hand reactions. If you want to become a better batter, drills can help you increase visual performance.
Visual Memory Drill
Practice thinking in pictures rather than a set of words. Before hitting the ball, picture or anticipate your actions. This drill will increase your visual memory and increase your eye movement and recognition.
Eye Speed-Concentration Drill
Obtain 50 pictures of various types of sports balls, such as a baseball, football and soccer ball, and paste them on a large poster board. Randomly write numbers on each one of the sports balls ranging from 1 to 50. Try to locate a particular number as fast as you can and call out the type of ball. This drill will increase your eye speed when eying the baseball.
Fine-focused Tracking Drill
The skill of keeping your eye on the ball involves fine-focused eye tracking. The batter must have the ability to stay focused on a slow-moving ball even when there are distractions on the field or in the stands. Your eyes will naturally react to things that are moving within your field of vision. Improve on you fine focusing skills by practicing to not letting things around you distract you from keeping your eye on the ball.
Two-Person Catch Drill
Write large letters on a baseball. Playing catch with another person, call out the last letter you see on the ball as you're about to catch it. This drill will help you to keep your eye on the ball because you focus on spotting one of the letters written on it before you catch it.
Single-Person Catch Drill
Throw a baseball up in the air and try to catch it. Repeat this for 10 minutes. This is a drill that can help you learn to keep your eye on the ball and help with hand-eye coordination.
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