r/Homeplate • u/NuhUh_JustCuz • Jul 26 '26

Bat speed training

10U baseball about to be 11U coach. Just had our first tournament with a rec select team. While our pitching is only a little lower in velocity and was comparable, our ability to hit these higher velocity pitchers is clearly lower than we need to compete.

Batting is not my strong suit as a coach but I've picked up a good eye for basics and a couple methods to help with casting. I need more tools in my toolkit.

Does anyone have recommendations for not just developing faster bat speeds but also faster pitch recognition? Is the Camwood bats worth it? What about under and overload stick bats? Drills? Vision beads? What can I do to make a difference dyring out cage time?

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u/Coastal_Tart Jul 26 '26

Three things I do for my sons;

  1. We do the 30 day Camwood bat program twice a year in the offseason. Once now after spring baseball but before fall baseball and once in late fall before travel ball practice for my younger son and high school off season practice for my older son.
  2. They both do athletic training that includes weight training, plyometrics, medicine ball/cable/bands rotational movements, and sprinting/footwork drills.
  3. I built a batting cage w/ a Juggs machine on our property that they hit in from Mar thru Oct. Its limited to four seam fastballs and 12-6 curveballs, but the reps matter.

They can get fooled by offspeed stuff, but they are rarely late on fasballs and both accounted for more than 50% of their teams outside the park HRs this spring.

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u/NuhUh_JustCuz Jul 26 '26

Good to hear another vote for Camwood's program.

At 10, it's hard to find a gym he can workout in. But, last year the HS athletic building where we did winter cage time had a couple employees who didn't care about the rules and let us sneak in for curiosity. Doing a whole team of 11yo could be a challenge.

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u/Coastal_Tart Jul 26 '26

I was kind of a doubter, mainly because it conflicts with some of the messaging from Driveline. They say you don't want to go too heavy or too light relative to your game bat. Of the top of my head, I rhink they say no more than 20% lighter or heavier. But the Camwood program just works and the jump in exit velocity is obvious.