Hitter/Howard question..

[obbay]

I think it was Howard who posted once about hitting off tee into a screen. he had horizontal lines on the screen that denoted the zone that the ball should be hit in and the tee was a certain distance from the screen. does anyone here know what the heights of the horizontal lines were and how far the tee was off the screen?

thanks!

 

[Eric F]

PM straightleg. He has that info.

 

[Westwind]

Here you go! I copied this from one of Hitters posts. Bonus tip: my iphone has a compass app that can measure angles. If you are in a cage or are setting up a net you can figure the 10 and 26 degree measurements at various distances.

Here are the measurements :The hitting net is marked with (2) two horizontal lines one line at 51 inches high and another line at 39 inches high, as measured from the floor. The hitting net is also marked with one vertical line down the middle. Paint the 51 inch and 39 inch lines black and paint the middle of the two line red also paint the vertical line black. The Tee is setup to represent a down the middle pitch and is positioned about to 2 to 3 inches forward of Home plate. Tee is set up 4 ½ feet from the net, and 29 ½ inches high. With this setup the 51 inches horizontal line on the net represents a 26 degree angle from the top of the tee, while the 39 inch line represents a 10 degree angle from the top of the tee. If the ball is hit at the 39 inch line, it would make the ball at 86 feet which is second base for softball, the ball would be about 8 to 10 feet high and at the 51 inch line possible out of the park. Provided the middle of the ball is hit with about a 8 to 10 degree up swing.

 

[obbay]

Thanks Westwind!
(Thank you too Eric- I started to PM SL but when I hit send, I found out I had too many messages saved and I wound up losing it so I put it off)
I have this on my iPhone and iPad now, thank you very much.

 

[rdbass]

obbay,
I set my garage exact to the info. I have used it this way for 4 years. Even outdoors I still try to keep to the same set up.
Create a Hitting Zone!

Net hangs in garage. Double layer of moving blankets to stop balls.
Black stripe horizontal line is 39 and 51 inches up to check ball flight.
Black stripe vertical line in middle check’s hand path-hitting left or right of center.
Bottom rolled up to catch hit balls.
Took swimming noodle, cut it in pieces to spread the area to catch the balls.
Net/blanket curved on the ends and black stripes on ends are for working on opposite field hits.
Piece of pipe at bottom of hitting blanket

The hitting net is marked with (2) two horizontal lines one line at 51 inches high and another line at 39 inches high, as measured from the floor. The hitting net is also marked with one vertical line down the middle. Paint the 51 inch and 39 inch lines black and paint the middle of the two line red also paint the vertical line black. The Tee is setup to represent a down the middle pitch and is positioned about to 2 to 3 inches forward of Home plate. Tee is set up 4 ½ feet from the net, and 29 ½ inches high. With this setup the 51 inches horizontal line on the net represents a 26 degree angle from the top of the tee, while the 39 inch line represents a 10 degree angle from the top of the tee. If the ball is hit at the 39 inch line, it would make the ball at 86 feet which is second base for softball, the ball would be about 8 to 10 feet high and at the 51 inch line possible out of the park. Provided the middle of the ball is hit with about a 8 to 10 degree up swing. Always line up off the back corner of home plate the length of a bat. We lay the bat down on the back corner of home plate with the sweet spot on the plate. We stand /set up to hit at the end of the handle of the lay downed bat. ( not tee *see picture of schutt Multi position Tee) as a reference point so we are consistent when determining where the ball hit’s the net when doing Tee work. Difficult to establish bat control without having a place to set up that would make hitting a ball off the tee in a fixed position repeatable in my opinion. When done correctly and when hitting up the middle the ball should hit in the zone and be close to the vertical line.

You can figure it out using a contractor protractor and a 2x4. Set the one end of the 2x4 on the tee and then the other end is in the net. Now set the lines at 10 degrees and 26 degrees. We have found these angles to be very productive for our girls over the years.

The red area is the hitting zone and represents about 10 to 26 degree with the Tee 4 ½ feet from the net at 29 ½ inches high. This gives you an approximate angle you are hitting the balls as to hitting on the top of the ball and it is below the 39 inch line or hitting the bottom of the ball hitting above the 51 inch line…if it goes left of center what opened I.e. shoulder, front leg, casting out with the hands, rolling the wrist, turning in on the ball to far with the front shoulder . If the Tee is the center and slightly ahead of home plate (2 to 3 inches) the ball should go straight and if not figure out why.

Just hitting the ball time after time without understanding what could be right or wrong makes no sense and builds bad muscle memory in my opinion. When you hit an inside pitch then you should be able to predict were the ball should go as well as up the middle or outside and if not what is preventing the hitter from doing it.

It is not how many balls you hit during a workout; it is how you hit each ball and how consistent you can be in your mechanics while being relaxed, loose, comfortable, and having the ability to feel what a good swing is for yourself.

 

[colin]

do you put sides on your hitting zone or just go with the size of the net? i have a big mouth bownet and could just spray paint the net but at 4' in front of the tee the side areas will be limited.

 

[rdbass]

do you put sides on your hitting zone or just go with the size of the net? i have a big mouth bownet and could just spray paint the net but at 4' in front of the tee the side areas will be limited.

You don't have to but, I have sides(tarps). I will also extend the middle/line drive area to the sides for outside & inside pitches. The goal for DD is to hit line drives off of the tee. I don't want to see the ball go into the ground or top of the hitting area off of a tee.

 

[Westwind]

Colin, I didn't know if the netting could be painted so with my bow nets so I used 1/4 inch hollow core nylon rope to make my lines. That kind of rope can be looped around and inserted back into itself so there is no knots to come loose, just wove it through the net.

 

[vdubya]

This thread needs more pics.

 

[Ken B]

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