US Patent 10549166 Batting training

Apparatus and method train a batter to maintain the batter's eyes directed toward a prescribed point of contact where a ball is to be contacted by a bat wielded by the batter during a swing of the bat. A batting tee holds the ball, and a plurality of visually distinct signals on the tee are located such that the signals are blocked from view by the batter when the ball is in place on the tee, and are visible by the batter when the ball is struck from the tee and the batter's eyes are directed toward the point of contact as the ball leaves the tee. A trainer at a remote location manually activates the signals, enabling the selection of one or a combination of signals for viewing by the batter when the batter's eyes are directed toward the point of contact as the ball leaves the tee, allowing verification of the activated signal or signals by the batter as the ball leaves the batting tee, thereby determining if, in fact, the batter's eyes were directed toward the point of contact when the ball departed the batting tee, thus enabling evaluation of the batter's training progress.