Hitting Exercises, Drills Build Your Game

A Perfect Pitch - by a Machine
A pitching machine allows you to get in some batting practice whenever you want, without having to wrangle a friend into throwing ball after ball. Because you have a batting cage, you've got the entire package. Try setting the machine to different speeds to feel what your swing will need to be like when it's a live pitcher on the other end. When the bases are loaded and a pitcher thinks he's going to fool you into swinging wildly at a fast ball, you'll know just what to do because you'll have swung at fast balls a thousand times during your own batting practice.

A Real Person
Of course, a machine is handy, but machines aren't likely to replace real people any time soon, so be sure to ask your pal to come over and throw you some knuckle balls, speed balls, and curve balls during some of your batting practices. Most batting cages are big enough to fit both batter and pitcher, but be sure your pitcher is protected - with a helmet or pitching screen - in case one of your hits is a line drive right toward his face.