The Batting Cage Blueprint: Why weekly hitting reps matter for young athletes

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Stepping up to the plate with confidence doesn't happen by accident. Behind every successful young hitter stands hours of consistent, deliberate practice that most spectators never see.

This episode tackles a hard truth many parents need to hear: waiting for your child to show initiative before investing in their athletic development could be silently sabotaging their progress. We explore why consistent batting practice—especially those "boring" tee drills—forms the foundation of hitting success at every level of play. Even Major League stars take hundreds of tee swings weekly, recognizing what many young athletes (and their parents) miss: repetition builds the timing, rhythm, and muscle memory essential for performance when it counts.

We break down exactly what an effective weekly hitting regimen looks like, offering a practical blueprint any family can implement: three to four focused sessions weekly, each with specific purposes and progression points. Learn how just 10-20 minutes of intentional practice several times weekly dramatically outperforms longer, less frequent sessions. Discover the secret to making fundamentals fun by ending each practice with positive reinforcement activities that build both skills and enthusiasm.

The most important message might be directed at parents themselves. Rather than waiting for motivation to magically appear, successful athletic development requires structure and consistency first. By scheduling regular practice opportunities and treating them with the same importance as homework or team practice, parents give their children the gift of discipline—a skill that translates far beyond sports.

Ready to transform your approach to your child's athletic development? This episode provides the roadmap, practical tips for finding resources, and the motivation to start building better routines today. Your young athlete's confidence and performance depend on the habits you help establish now. Share this with other sports parents and join us in raising athletes who understand that greatness comes from embracing the fundamentals.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's not optional why consistent batting practice is
essential for creating betterathletes.
Let's get into this reallyimportant topic for athletes,
but honestly, this one's goingto be right to parents.
Welcome back to RaisingAthletes.
Raising Athletes, the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald

(00:20):
and moms to buy minivans.
Empowering parents to helptheir kids succeed.
Okay, there's no one around.
So let me ask you an honestquestion how often does your
athlete practice on their own,Not with their team for practice
or before a game, but on theirown?
How often do they practice?
Is the answer never or rarely?

(00:41):
Well then, this episode isgoing to challenge you and them,
and you need to listen up,especially if you want your
child to get better and yourchild wants to improve as an
athlete.
Today we're talking about theimportance of consistent reps in
the cage, what a weekly routineshould look like and why
waiting for your kids to takeinitiative on their own could

(01:04):
actually cost them theirdevelopment.
Now, why does consistency asfar as hitting reps?
Why does it matter?
Well, here's the obvious rightNumber one hitting is a skill
that depends on timing, rhythmand muscle memory Repetition.
Under the right structure, itleads to greater confidence in

(01:25):
games and also the players whoseparate themselves are the ones
who are getting the extra repsconsistently, not just during
team practice.
And here is the cold hard truthT-work, especially for kids
it's boring and I get it, butit's also the thing that makes
the difference in how they getbetter, and I get it, but it's

(01:46):
also the thing that makes thedifference in how they get
better.
The best players in the entireworld major leaguers are still
taking hundreds of reps off of atee every single week.
So if it's good enough for them, it's definitely good enough
for your child.
It's essential for barrelcontrol, contact point awareness
and mechanics.
So if the only time your kid ishitting is at a team practice,

(02:07):
then they're falling behind, andthat's the cold hard truth.
So what does a hitting regimenlook like that your child should
be going through on a weeklybasis?
Does it change?
Based on age and current skilllevel?
A hundred percent, and based ontheir age and current skill
level?
100%, and based on their ageand current skill level.
You should develop a regimenthat's catered towards them, but

(02:29):
it all should be workingtowards scaling up and
challenging them more and moreas the weeks and the months
progress.
But ultimately, you want to getyour young athlete to a place
where they're on their ownpracticing three or four days a
week.
Now I'm not suggesting thatthat should be an hour, two,

(02:50):
three hours every single day.
Just even 10 to 20 minutes aday, three days a week, will
make a huge difference down theroad.
So on day one, an example couldbe you just take three rounds
of 15 to 20 swings.
That focuses on your swing path, posture and balance.

(03:10):
You can simply just mirror yourswing, literally have your
child swing in front of a mirrorso that they can see themselves
and make sure that they'refocusing on slow motion reps.
Day two this is where you cannow bring in and incorporate
front toss or timing drills.
You want reaction drills,rhythm work and zone discipline.
Game three this is perfect forgame-like reps.

(03:33):
This is where you can bring ina live arm or machine, and what
I always encourage the athletesthat I teach and the athletes
that are on my teams is you wantit in this situation, when
you're in the cage, you wanna beable to practice competing in
certain hitting counts, forexample, an 0-2 count, a 3-1
count, bases, loaded situations.

(03:53):
This readies the player to beable to handle those situations
in a game, Instead of it beingnot intentional.
Now you're practicing withintentionality and they will be
ready for those situations whenthat situation presents itself
in a game.
You also want to end with fun.
This is okay.
I know some coaches aresticklers with this, but I say,

(04:16):
instead of taking the entirecage work where you're dialing
up the machine to as fast as itcan go to see if you can hit it,
or you're in hit track to seeif you can, how many times you
can hit it over the fence, I sayspend 95% of your hitting
intentionality right, beingintentional about the situation,
on what you're doing on thedrills right, and I think, end

(04:38):
with fun.
You can end with power.
You can end with spraying thefield and doing a little
competition to see how manyballs you can hit to the right
side, up the middle, to the leftside, instead of just being
sort of random with every singleswing.
I think it's important forathletes to be intentional about

(04:59):
every swing that they take whenthey are practicing Now because
, like I said earlier, hittingoff the tee especially for the
young ones, it's really boring.
Well then, set a goal in mind10 minutes of being intentional
and working through the drilland in the last five minutes we
can have fun and we could do alittle home run hitting contest
to see how hard you hit yourexit velo and all that other fun

(05:20):
stuff.
End of the fun thing this waythey've got the positive
dopamine hit right there andthis way, when they come back to
it, they're gonna remember thatfeeling and they're gonna
develop that passion forpracticing on the tee.
So we're gonna to develop thatpassion for practicing on the
tee.
So we're going to turnsomething that was boring into
something that could be a lot offun.
Now day four.
This could be like a light, alight focus day.

(05:42):
Some people want to add a dayof rest here.
Either way, I'm okay with it,but regardless, here is where I
would recommend doing like shorttee work.
You could do some band work.
You could do some like quick 10minute resets with like a
slight form review if you've gotsomeone with you.
But in total for the entireweek, we're looking at 90 to 120
minutes for the whole week.

(06:03):
This is spread out over threeor four days.
You do this consistently.
It will make a huge differenceand will translate positively in
game situations.
Now I gotta take a moment hereand I got to talk directly to my
parents, my friends here.
We are friends in this entirejourney of raising athletes.

(06:25):
So I'm going to talk directlywith you and there is a phrase
that many of us have uttered toour kids and I want us to start
moving away from it.
I think it's interfering withpotential progress that our kids
can ultimately experience, andthat is I'm waiting for my child
to develop more interest beforeI'm willing to invest more time

(06:48):
and effort in helping them todevelop.
I think this is putting ourkids in a place where now
they're behind the eight ball alittle bit and we are assuming
that our child is going to havethe right motivation to do, like
we said earlier, the boringstuff.
We know and we can acknowledgethey don't want to do the boring

(07:09):
stuff.
So it's up to us as parents andcoaches, to make sure we're
creating the routines,scheduling these opportunities
for them so that over time thenthey can develop that passion.
But waiting for the passionjust to manifest itself without
any type of interference isalmost unfair to the child.

(07:30):
So what I would like torecommend is us to move away
from that phrase and reallystart focusing on what we can do
to help create better routinesfor kids when they're younger,
so that now, when they're older,they've got these routines,
these foundational elements inplace that will really be
critical for their success.
I would recommend that if youthink that something is

(07:54):
important and we know, asparents, things that are
important for our kids well thendon't wait for motivation.
Build structure Kids.
We know this, I've said it somany times.
Kids say things are boring,like tea work, and that's normal
.
But it's our job as parents tohelp guide them, not to
entertain them all the time.
So, schedule it Just likehomework or practice.
Remove the guesswork.

(08:15):
Routine builds confidence.
Confidence fuels performance,and it starts with us, the
parents.
So let's close with some ofthese long-term benefits of
consistent cage work.
What are some of these outcomesthat we can expect our kids to
see over time?
Well, first, more confident atbats and games.

(08:37):
Also, better mechanics underpressure that's a big one.
Improved bat speed, power,contact rate and, ultimately, a
greater love for the process,which then will lead to the
child expressing the interest,on their own, to do more
teamwork in the backyard.
See, repetition creates comfort.

(08:59):
Comfort breeds courage in thebatter's box.
My recommendation to all parentsis set the schedule.
Start small and realistic andthen scale up.
Start at 10 to 20 minutes,maybe two or three times, and
then scale up, adding days, twodays, three days, four days.
Keep a simple log or videorecord of the progress and don't

(09:24):
expect perfection, but rewardconsistency.
Development doesn't wait formotivation.
It rewards discipline.
So give your athlete the giftof a routine and the reps they
need to compete.
I really hope that this hasmotivated all of you to help our
athletes become well, get to aplace where they have a better

(09:47):
chance of success.
There are a lot of opportunitieseven if you don't have, let's
say, a net or a tee yourself ora batting cage.
There are lots of local battingcages that you can get access
to.
For example, at R3 AthletePerformance in Holtzville, right
here on Long Island, we have afacility and we have a
membership.
It's called Open CageMemberships where twice a week,

(10:12):
as long as you're a member, youget access to a cage for 30
minutes.
It's only 50 bucks.
That translates to $10 a week.
Get access to this.
Get these memberships for yourkids so that then they will have
that scheduled routine If theydo it over the course of a
period of time, several months,all of a sudden guess what?
Now you've helped to give thegift of discipline to your child
, where now they're doing it ontheir own.

(10:32):
So that earlier phrase, oh, I'mwaiting for them to express
interest.
Well, how about we help ourkids develop that passion and
get into the routine ofscheduling the boring stuff and
turning the boring stuff intothe fun stuff?
Because they see the reward,they see the results.
It's pretty exciting stuff.
Anyway, guys, thanks for tuningin to this week's episode of

(10:53):
Raising Athletes.
We're in this together, right?
So definitely share this witheveryone that you know.
That also is raising athletes.
We'll see you next time, Takecare.