Hitting and Hitters Discussion Self Soft-Toss Device

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I am designing a device to allow my daughter do some soft toss on her own. I am having her do some work on her own so I don't over coach her (I tend to do that) which will allow her to be more successful with less (want to approach zero) audio cues from me during pre-bat. So.... many of the self soft-toss devices out there force you to rush what you are doing and possibly develop bad habits. I have enough room in my basement cage that I can have her turn, bump a ball into a "pipe" and have it travel far enough away and then back a sharp enough incline to launch it where it needs to go.

Whatever I end up with can't dominate all the space in the cage and she has to able to work it on her own. There has to be enough delay for her to put it in motion and properly prepare so she can use good mechanics.

I have thoughts in my head on how I am going to do this but I want to see if anybody else has already conquered this. I'm looking at the various devices on youtube, etc but have not come up with anything that I'm happy with.

Thoughts?

 

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Also I'm hoping this thread is in the right place. It is for hitting so....

 

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Here is an example of a soft toss device that doesn't do well if for no other reason than it doesn't pause long enough between pitches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DWYWGYgMJE

 

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And.... I want the "pitches" to come from the front, about 10-15 feet away depending on how I can get it to work.

 

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Nothing develops MUSCLE MEMORY like consistently hitting off of a tee. I have hung a comforter from a beam in my basement and my dd swings 4 or 5 days a week. She went to practice a couple days ago and said to me she is amazed how well it has helped her swing. My older son played College baseball and every practice they had to hit off the tee! Not much designing needed there.

 

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We have a tee and use it extensively. There are things that you can learn from soft-toss that you can't from a tee so I want to work on something for that.

EDIT: I should say "There are things you can do from soft-toss that can build upon what is done on a tee, so I want to get that taken care of."

 

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And.... I want the "pitches" to come from the front, about 10-15 feet away depending on how I can get it to work.

WM I have used the Wheeler Dealer and it is considered the Cadillac so to speak of soft toss machines.

You can set the speed at which it tosses.

http://www.unique-sports.com/products/wheeler-dealer-soft-toss-machine

Working the tee at positions at various placements is very useful.

We work below the knee and at the shoulder. You can put your regular tee on a 5 gallon bucket to simulate a high pitch.

I have even used the big V8 juice bottles and filled it with rocks and drill a 3/4 hole in the cap and duct taped it in place. Milk jugs work and cutting a 5 gallon bucket so you are just using mainly the bottom works also.

Some of our kids do not have much money so this helps them to at least have some thing to practice with.

Happy New Year Howard

 

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Glad to hear you can change the setting. At the fast speed it was being used in a video it looked counter-productive.

We do quite a bit of tee work, high (tee on a chair), low, inside, outside, etc. We work on simulating getting fooled on the change and being on the front foot, and a bunch of other stuff.

Thanks for the thoughts on the tee work and methods to get it up to the high pitch. We work that high pitch in two ways.... once is the "by the rule book" high pitch and the second is the "by the umpire's strike zone" high pitch. We use that second one when we get an umpire who seems to like to call it high and one of those pitches arrives when there are two strikes.

I think I'll give myself a $100 budget (calculations via design) to make the soft-toss device that I have in my head. If I can't do it maybe I'll look further into getting one of the Wheeler Dealer's that you have experience with.

Again, thanks.

 

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WM I have used the Wheeler Dealer and it is considered the Cadillac so to speak of soft toss machines.

You can set the speed at which it tosses.

http://www.unique-sports.com/products/wheeler-dealer-soft-toss-machine

Working the tee at positions at various placements is very useful.

We work below the knee and at the shoulder. You can put your regular tee on a 5 gallon bucket to simulate a high pitch.

I have even used the big V8 juice bottles and filled it with rocks and drill a 3/4 hole in the cap and duct taped it in place. Milk jugs work and cutting a 5 gallon bucket so you are just using mainly the bottom works also.

Some of our kids do not have much money so this helps them to at least have some to practice with.

Happy New Year Howard

Great tip's Howard! Looks like I'll be collecting milk jugs and V8 juice bottles for our next hitting league practice.. Girls will have some fun homework too Thx again Howard!! I'll see you and Crystl in Parkersburg at the end of Febuary. I'll be bringing 3 girls this time that have never met you or Bustos, there jacked!!

 

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Glad to hear you can change the setting. At the fast speed it was being used in a video it looked counter-productive.

We do quite a bit of tee work, high (tee on a chair), low, inside, outside, etc. We work on simulating getting fooled on the change and being on the front foot, and a bunch of other stuff.

Thanks for the thoughts on the tee work and methods to get it up to the high pitch. We work that high pitch in two ways.... once is the "by the rule book" high pitch and the second is the "by the umpire's strike zone" high pitch. We use that second one when we get an umpire who seems to like to call it high and one of those pitches arrives when there are two strikes.

I think I'll give myself a $100 budget (calculations via design) to make the soft-toss device that I have in my head. If I can't do it maybe I'll look further into getting one of the Wheeler Dealer's that you have experience with.

Again, thanks.

We do not have a strike zone....the umpire does! We have a hitting zone!

GOD Bless the umpires however they are only human so we want the kids to be more aggressive and swing the bat and get use to the pitchers working in, out and up, down.

The only thing we want the umpire to do is call safe or out and the hitter MUST decide what to swing at. So we work outside the official strike zone.

You can lay 5 softballs across home plate and see the visual strike zone.

I have a rubber cord and put 5 white softballs on the cord and then 1 yellow one on either side of the 5 white ones and then 1 green one on either side of the yellow ones. This makes our hitting zone 9 balls wide and 9 balls high. For a girl around 12 years old or older in most cases, this would allow the balls on a cord to be vertical and the ball positioned at the top of the arm pit and the low ball to be at the middle of the knee.

This is why we work with the milk jugs and V8 juice tees and place the regular tee on top of a 5 gallon bucket.

I worked with a team Wednesday and laid the balls on a cord down over a home plate. I ask a parent to be the umpire and soft tossed to the number 9 and 1 ball and the kids had no problem hitting it.

The visual is allowing the kids to see what they can do verses what some body says they can not do in my opinion.

Howard

 

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Howard,

Thanks for the tips!

 

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the balls on a rope are one of the best visuals you've have shown us. Love it!!!!

 

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We do not have a strike zone....the umpire does! We have a hitting zone!

GOD Bless the umpires however they are only human so we want the kids to be more aggressive and swing the bat and get use to the pitchers working in, out and up, down.

The only thing we want the umpire to do is call safe or out and the hitter MUST decide what to swing at. So we work outside the official strike zone.

You can lay 5 softballs across home plate and see the visual strike zone.

I have a rubber cord and put 5 white softballs on the cord and then 1 yellow one on either side of the 5 white ones and then 1 green one on either side of the yellow ones. This makes our hitting zone 9 balls wide and 9 balls high. For a girl around 12 years old or older in most cases, this would allow the balls on a cord to be vertical and the ball positioned at the top of the arm pit and the low ball to be at the middle of the knee.

This is why we work with the milk jugs and V8 juice tees and place the regular tee on top of a 5 gallon bucket.

I worked with a team Wednesday and laid the balls on a cord down over a home plate. I ask a parent to be the umpire and soft tossed to the number 9 and 1 ball and the kids had no problem hitting it.

The visual is allowing the kids to see what they can do verses what some body says they can not do in my opinion.

Howard

Very nice visual for that, I may honor your idea by using it myself if you don't mind! I'll even give you credit.

My saying to the team is "What is a strike?" The response is "What the umpire says it is!".