Coaching: Training Fly Balls

I have been coaching youth baseball for over 8 years now and have a very good set of assistant coaches. I am a firm believer that the more coaches you have and the more you break down a practice or pre-game into smaller groups the more effective it will be. The problem I have with my team is I am the only one of the coaches that can hit effective fly balls. This causes a problem during practice and pre-game as a head coach it is important to be involved with all groups of players.

However, I have discovered a great fix. The item that allows anyone to “hit” fly balls is the Accubat Trainer.  Now, I am a baseball purist and I would have laughed if I would have seen someone using the Accubat back in my playing days, but it is a very valuable tool for a low price that will make your pre-game and practice so much more effective. It is much better at placing a fly ball into a spot you want them to work on (for example, a fly ball in the alley) rather than just hitting them. The only draw-back I’ve discovered is there is no substitute for hitting a ball off a bat to simulate real game spin of the ball, but the Accubat is much better than throwing a fly ball. The Accubat does take a little getting used to, however virtually anyone can “hit” fly balls with this valuable practice aid.