Hitting and Hitters Discussion Soft Toss??

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Help me out here.....Soft toss seems to be an accepted bat drill across the board. But I have to say that the more I see my dd do the drill the more it seems to mess up her swing. By messing up I mean, I see her tend to lunge more at the ball.

can you give me some things to watch out for to make sure she is doing it right? thanks

 

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I think the key is a good tosser! Out to the point of contact and consistent. If you're working different pitch locations, make sure the tosser knows what they're doing and can place the ball to the right spots.

The point of the drill is to provide repetition and instill solid swing mechanics and muscle memory. I would use a tee before having someone soft toss my dd who is not very good at it. And remember, the ball will not travel as far because there's no speed coming in. Sometimes I see younger girls swing exta-hard at soft toss because they're disappointed the ball is not going as far as it does when they hit against live pitching or a machine. That can only lead to bad habits.

 

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so try to remind her to concentrate on the swing not so much of how hard the swing is.

 

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I guess, just don't "over" swing. Soft toss work, IMHO, is about instilling good swing mechanics and then being able to repeat those mechanics in a live situation. There are some excellent batting instructors and coaches on OFC that I have read and that hopefully can add to your thread. I'm just a dad who happens to have thrown thousands of soft tosses and has overheard my dd's instructor preach about the importance of a repeatable swing. The last thing you want to do is have your daughter swinging at pitches out of the strike zone because the tosser is no good. And if soft tossing isn't good for her, consider avoiding it and sticking to tee work.

 

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RIGHT, if the swing is bad to begin with with soft toss won;t help it. If they are not disciplined and chase pitches then soft toss won't help.

SOft toss to refine and repeat good swing habits, refine and polish the swing, feel the wt of the ball and finish thru. If the basic is bad to start, then the outcome will be bad as well.

 

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very good points, DD has been lunging lately. With the season over we will be going indoors to work off of machines and tees. Maybe this will work things out.

 

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Both Icarry and Flashes mention "lunging" at the ball. That's never good, but if it means they're reaching for pitches that are outside, make sure they know where that outside strike is and layoff anything further out (unless the ump is calling it and then they have to adjust). And working on hitting the outside pitch takes countless hours. Patience (waiting for the ball to come in further) and then driving the ball to right are keys to making good contact. If she feels the need to lunge for the outside, she's probably trying to pull a pitch that she shouldn't. And then when a pitcher notices if she's doing that, guess what, here comes an inside pitch.

 

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She's not lunging for the outside, she has a pretty good eye. It's more like she transfer her weight first then swings instead of waiting for the ball. That's the only way I can describe it.

 

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Here is a link to one of Hitter's posts that is relevant to the soft toss question...

http://www.game-ex.com/vb3/showpost.php?p=96261&postcount=5

Without watching her swing it is hard to say why she is lunging. If it is only during soft toss, then possibly the tosser is doing it wrong. A lot of times a batter lunges because she has loaded too much of her weight on the back leg prior to initiating the swing. Make sure she starts balanced.

 

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Both Icarry and Flashes mention "lunging" at the ball. That's never good, but if it means they're reaching for pitches that are outside, make sure they know where that outside strike is and layoff anything further out (unless the ump is calling it and then they have to adjust). And working on hitting the outside pitch takes countless hours. Patience (waiting for the ball to come in further) and then driving the ball to right are keys to making good contact. If she feels the need to lunge for the outside, she's probably trying to pull a pitch that she shouldn't. And then when a pitcher notices if she's doing that, guess what, here comes an inside pitch.

lunging at outside pitches is not the issue, she swings very hard and very fast. Her swing is just ugly right now. I have heard some people don't like soft toss because it makes it easy for kids to fall back into bad habits.

we missed almost two months with her hitting coach and are trying to get back on schedule. He will fix her in two sessions it is just everytime she does softtoss with her team she falls back into that bad swing again.

just wanted to know other opinions

 

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flashes has a part of it too, doesn't start balanced doesn't end balanced which makes the swing out of whack

 

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Sounds like you've got a handle on it. I did just have one last thought and then I'll shut up!

Sometimes, I catch myself rushing the girls as a tosser because we're all trying to get so much in. Be sure your tosser is giving plenty of time for your dd to get set and balanced between tosses. That's the only other thing I could think of that might mess up her routine.

 

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If you go to ToysRus, you can get 40 very lite weight plastic balls that are for the McDonalds ball crawling pit. They are various colors, so you can use these for the 2 ball toss, where you call out a color, too.

But, anyway, you can toss these balls from the front, w/o a net and no chance of getting hurt. The balls don't fly very far, either.

I agree that the tosser is the problem, a lot of the time.

Also, always use something as a home plate and batters box.

 

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We never had this problem until this year, and late in the year. Before she was waiting to long to swing, not she's her timing is better for that, this issue has come up. It's always something with her. I think she is trying to drive the ball with her weight and not with her hips. the problem is more with slow pitches and softtoss.

 

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We never had this problem until this year, and late in the year. Before she was waiting to long to swing, not she's her timing is better for that, this issue has come up. It's always something with her. I think she is trying to drive the ball with her weight and not with her hips. the problem is more with slow pitches and softtoss.

I think timing is also an issue. we will get back with the hitting coach and get it fixed.

just don't know if I want soft toss to add to the problem by doing it.

 

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Warning this takes a while to explain so the internet police that checks how many words I use can re***. I would recommend this thread be moved to the coaches corner also.

I have seen over the year?s poor soft toss techniques break a hitter?s swing mechanics down quickly usually right before the game?let me explain in pre game you usually pair up with someone or a parent that volunteers to help. They usually do not understand as they are soft tossing that they are throwing the ball in on their hands forcing the batter to pull everything they are tossing and are doing it from about 3 to 4 feet away.



Timing is an issue also as is momentum so you and the hitter MUST work together. As you lower the ball she starts her load and as you come up with the ball she strides...never let her stop and start and you the tosser never stops and starts as we explain they must learn to dance with the pitcher.


Last week one of our better hitters ask me to show her dad how to soft toss because he was not doing it like you (being me)?so we had dad soft toss and she was correct, all the tosses were in on her hands forcing her to pull the ball.

So we put three balls on top of home plate, one just in front of home plate about 6 inches forward and inside, another in the middle of home plate and 2 inches in front of home plate and another on the outside of home plate about 3 inches forward of the back corner.

The hitter lines up off the back corner and measures off from home plate. This will be the hitter?s position during the drill work and the soft tosser is the one who will change positions. You want the hitter to look through the net as if there is a pitcher there and the soft tosser is close to the plate. I always start up the middle first and my right knee lines up with where I want to toss the ball and I toss it with my right hand. For lefties I use my left knee and toss it left handed. The hitter is looking straight ahead and as I lower my hand she sees it move out of her peripheral vision with my hand moving downward and she starts her load and times it so her load NEVER stops and only changes direction. As my hand comes up she looks at the ball in my hand as she strides and separates her hands rearward a little to build momentum and hits the ball. IF she un- hinges her wrist (or releases the angle of the bat) and I did my job correctly the ball should go up the middle and my nets are marked so we know where the ball went.

To train the soft tosser have the hitter just stand in their position and the soft tosser lowers their hand down and then up trying to drop the ball onto the ball on the ground. Most people try to flip it off the finger tips or roll it off the finger tips which is why they throw it in on the hitters hands. We want a down and up motion and then pull the hand away. After they release the ball they pull their hand back out of the way. Remember to pull the hand out of the way! I try to give a rhythm of down and up and release in less than 2 seconds. Say out loud one thousand and one, one thousand and two and the ball should be in the air.

Now try doing it with the hitter swinging and if you are working together as a team the ball should go up the middle.

Now do an outside pitch and remember to re position yourself towards the catcher with your right knee lined up with the ball on the ground as you toss. The hitter because the ball is deeper in the box will have to release their bat angle sooner in order to hit it to the opposite field HOWEVER they must stride forward on what we term our line of force. Do not allow them to step towards the plate or away from the plate?they must always be stepping on their line of force as we go to toe touch before the pitcher releases the ball.

Then repeat for the inside pitch and reposition your self forward. Because we are trying to catch the ball in front of the plate your hitter should not be releasing the bat head or casting out so you should not get hit.

All of this was information was explained while teaching them how to work off the tee so now we are using that knowledge when we begin to soft toss. Tee work first, soft toss second and front toss next.

 

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Another thought, is she hitting off of the machine a lot? I have seen that mess with girl's timing.

 

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Jugs soft toss machine helps with consistency. We have also started using 11" balls with large seams instead of Jugs dimpled balls with the soft toss machine to add some variability in the "tossed" location. That way the batter sees variance and it helps them adjust inside, outside, etc.

http://www.jkpsports.com/products/custom/a0600.cfm