Hitting off of a tee is very boring for youth baseball players.  Maybe its because they remember the days of tee ball when there were two kids per team that could actually play catch with any degree of efficiency.  Tee ball is for little kids.

Always place the tee in front of home plate except when hitting the pitch on the outside corner.

Yes, it is, but then why do so many Major Leaguers still use tees?

For teenage players, I recommend that you get them to hit off of the tee prior to going into the batting cage.  Have them work on those balls that are most difficult to hit.  Remember, that the tee should be place in front of home plate; nobody hits the ball at the plate!

Have the players work in pairs with one guy placing the balls on the tee.  This keeps the drill moving and the hitter will be more serious when he knows that somebody is watching him.

Take 5 swings with the tee at various parts of the plate.

• Down middle — Get loose with swings right down Peachtree.
• Ball away — the only one where you actually put the tee on home plate.  Stress hitting the ball deeper in the zone and hitting it the other way.
• High — The high fastball is the most difficult pitch for youth players to catch up to.  And, umpires at the youth level call this a strike much more often than they do at higher levels believing that the strike zone is to the armpits like it says in the rule book.
• Inside High — Work on pulling the inside high pitch.
• Low Inside — Work on pulling this pitch as well.
• Now take 3 swings one-handed with the trailing hand only at all 5 tee positions.
• Finally, take 3 swings one-handed with the lead hand only at all 5 tee positions.

You’ve varied the swing and made it interesting for the player.  Total swings is 55 (not bad).