Hit It Out of the Park with These Simple Rules

Before you step up to the plate in your batting cage, first things first: Make sure to select a bat that's the proper size for your height, weight, and for the power that you'll bring to the swing. Most players these days choose lightweight aluminum bats, but if you're an old-fashioned purist, you might consider a wooden bat.

Pick Your Position Depending on how fast or how slow a pitcher throws, you'll need to decide how far away to stand from home plate. A typical rule is to hold the bat and extend it down to touch the end of home plate to determine where you stand, but the closer you stand to the plate, the better able you'll be to hit an outside pitch. One trick of the batting trade is to "choke up" - or to move your hands further up the bat's grip - to make the bat seem lighter as you hold it. When holding the bat, you might consider a batting glove if your hands are sensitive or tend to get blistered.

Fortunately, with a batting cage, you'll be able to determine the speed at which your pitching machine launches your balls. Or, if you're doing things the old-fashioned way - using a real human - you can ask him or her to throw you curve balls, speed balls, and other types of pitches that will allow you to practice your batting away from the screaming crowds of Yankee Stadium - or your local diamond.

Get a grip
When holding the bat, your hands should touch. Don't hold it so tight that you're going to squeeze the life out of it, but don't go all loosey-goosey, either. A firm grip harnesses the power of your entire body, including your arms, shoulders, back, and legs.

A weak grip transfers the power to only your arms; do things that way, and you won't be hitting too many grand slams. Your baseball batting cage will give you plenty of practice determining which grip makes for the best hits.