I thought about building something similar to this. There appears to be 100 variations of the tire drill. Have any of y'all built one lately and have any advice?

Yep. Had one as a kid. Dad built one in his shop like a tire swing. I was having trouble swinging all the way through the ball. Definitely works.

Have used a punching bag.

Works great. Spray paint dots to improve hand-eye. Good way to learn switch hitting form too.

What exactly does it do?

Tires r good but not needed...make sure his hips r facing toward pitcher after swing and he holds bat with 2 hands all the way thru...before he swings he should be able to lift front front up, after he swings he should be able to lift back foot up...
He doesn't have to hold 2 hands but it'll cut out the letting go to early if he's doing it

The momentum of weight transfer is what enables the lift off the back foot. He shouldn't be able to hold that in a static position unless he's playing golf. It takes a while to figure out timing for when to throw your hips. Throw them too soon and you'll lose bat speed and pull off pitches.

The tire just helps you figure out when you get the timing right, and teaches you to know how that feels (or should feel) so you can replicate it on a tee, then soft toss, then front toss.

Also helps keep that head down and eyes on contact, since the tire doesn't go anywhere when you hit it. Don't need to spend all day on it, but 20-30 reps is a good way to start drills.

And one more thing....never hit that thing on the round side!! (Especially if he's a little fella) good way to get a black eye.

That one looks like it spins , cool design.

Hammertime knows what he’s talking about. He has the stats to prove it.

Ya I never thought about the timing aspect of hips... listen to hammertime he has good advise

Y’all play at JSU by chance?

Helps build wrist and forearm strength ; like said earlier a punch bag is good also .

Hitting a basketball off a tee is similar. Makes you drive through contact. Also gives you feedback on how hard you are swinging.

Thanks guys...I think this will be my project for the weekend. Now I just have to find a pole.

For sure. I’ve never hit a basketball off a tee but if you have access to a batting cage, tee work is invaluable. I’ve hit tires for forearm/wrist strength like Coachg34 said but you can only hit a tire for so long. If you can ever teach him to learn how to hit a ball off a tee with backspin through the 3 zones of location(inside pitch=Knob of the bat ahead of the barrel, hands inside, make contact with the ball just about parallel with your left cod), middle(make it a game to see how many times he can smoke a line drive THROUGH the back square of the cage, outside(most important if he ever wants to play real D1 ball) he needs to run line drives in the right center gap. They’ll pick you apart after high school if you don’t have the bat control and confidence to crush that right center gap.

Havnt heard that but I'm gonna put it into action 👍

Yeah but you better be darn sure you let the air out of it first...or that whole "keeping your eye on the ball" thing will turn into a bat in the face.

Just teach your kids to be half as good as Willie Mays problem solved.