Aiden Harris
HS Infielder, Online Training
When top high school baseball prospect Aiden Harris came into Driveline’s Arizona facility for the first time back in January, his assessment showed that he was relying too much on his arms and hands in his swing. He needed more separation, because he was struggling staying back on breaking balls.
Flash forward seven months to the Perfect Game National Showcase, and Harris became extremely well-known in the scouting community with a 110 mph home run – on a breaking ball.
So how did he get there? Harris credits the work he did with Driveline trainer Conner Watson on gaining more separation and getting his entire body involved to build a better swing sequence.
Being from Virginia, Harris moved to online training after his initial assessment in January. The communication between him and Watson didn’t slow down though, and neither did the work.
Harris continued working on the drills Watson initially prescribed to get more separation in his swing – drills like Hook ‘Em and Offset Open. He also put in a lot of work in a mixed-pitch environment, where he had to test his new mechanical changes in a game-like scenario.
Anytime he felt a little off (or really good) he would send Watson videos of live at-bats and ask for feedback and suggestions.
“I’m looking for something in my swing,” Harris said of the process. “Because maybe my swing didn’t feel right that day.”
Typically, the fix comes quickly after that.
“He’s really, really good at making changes very, very quickly,” Watson said. “Whenever he poses a question to me, and I give him whatever feedback I give him, he’s literally putting it to use within the next 24 hours.”
That’s exactly how it went when Harris was back out in Phoenix for the Perfect Game National Showcase, one of the premier events on the calendar for newly-draft eligible high school players.
Harris had been feeling like he was reverting back to some old swing habits in the weeks leading up to the showcase, and wasn’t getting as much separation as he should be getting. So at 8 a.m. the morning of his game at PG National, Harris was at Driveline working with Watson on Offset Open again.
The trip to Driveline did its job. On a 1-2 count later that afternoon, Harris turned on a breaking ball and hit it 110 mph out of Chase Field in front of a bevy of scouts. At an event that featured the best high school baseball prospects in the country, Harris went viral.
It’s made him somewhat famous, too.
“People have started to come up to me now and be like, ‘Hey, Mr. 110,’” Harris said. “I have people asking for pictures now. I’m getting a lot more followers and interest from other scouts and people in general.”
More importantly than the fanfare, Harris really likes his swing now.
“Everything feels a lot better in my swing,” he said. “I don’t have to try as hard to hit balls hard.”