It uses resistance bands to build up the hitters strength and speed. The batter strikes the ball causing it to twist on its axis and the bands return the ball back to starting position. It trains the hitter to stay on path with the baseball resulting in more consistent squarely hit baseballs. With that in mind, we want to emphasize that just because a hitting training aid is less expensive definitely does not mean it can’t be really effective when used properly.
Suarez didn’t have to go back to the heater, but if you’re truly reading swings and takes, there is no way you go back to the changeup. The sound move for Suarez was to go back to his best pitch and execute it as well as he could. Judge won last year’s Derby before trudging through a dismal second half, but the Yankees outfielder didn’t connect his struggles to his participation. And if they were related, he has flipped the switch back this season — the reigning American League rookie of the year entered Monday with 22 home runs and a .961 OPS. What the Derby definitely did do, however, was help make Judge, a giant with mammoth power, a premier star in a league starving for them. The numbers in 2013 suggest the impact wasn’t discernible.
The SwingAway MVP Trainer is another batting tee type trainer for hitters. It uses a bounce back style net with a ball attached to bungees. The batter hits the ball and in theory the ball strikes the net and you get to see where the ball hit and where it would have traveled on a field. The Speed Hitter uses a sliding ball on a narrow bat to teach the hitter to keep their hands in during the swing as opposed to casting them out. If the hands are cast out then the ball slides early down the bat.
We did have a seam tear on ours indicating there could be an issue with durability. The company quickly shipped out replacement parts free of charge, though it didn’t slow pitch softball pitching quite go back together the same way and makes it slightly more cumbersome to use now. What we liked is that it offers immediate feedback on quality versus poor swings.
The goggles limit the hitters vision as they hit thrown or teed balls. They train the hitter to use their optimal field of vision without pulling their head. As a bonus they would work great for fielding work forcing the fielder to keep their head down when fielding ground balls.
