The Soft Toss Drill - You Will Benefit Tremendously If You Use it Properly!

The Soft Toss Drill - You Will Benefit Tremendously If You Use it Properly!
By guest author: Larry Cicchiello


The soft toss drill is one of the best baseball coaching drills around and please don't ever sell it short. It is a great time saver to break a bad habit, get into a good habit or to simply maintain your baseball swing if you are in a good groove.

Let's say you're into baseball coaching and you want to break a bad habit that one of your hitters has suddenly gotten into. It may take about 300 swings for the baseball hitter's muscle memory to take over and break the bad habit. For you to throw this player enough pitches for him to get 300 swings would take a long time. Even if you went to the park every other day and threw 50 pitches a day to the hitter and they were all strikes, it would take a couple of weeks. Now you can see the major advantage if you can accomplish the same thing in only one or two days. I would much rather have my player struggle for a day or two instead of two weeks. That's awesome.

Remember, you don't have to be in a baseball hitting slump to practice your swing. It is simply one of the outstanding baseball coaching drills and do yourself a favor and make very good use of it.

Some Benefits of the Soft Toss Drill


It doesn't even require a baseball field or a glove.
You don't need someone to round up all the balls in the outfield.
The person doing the "soft tossing' to the hitter doesn't even have to have any baseball skills at all, so you can get anybody to "soft toss" to you. Please don't take this the wrong way but your grandmother can soft toss to you. I say that with total respect.
Soft toss only requires a bat, some baseballs, a fence and an optional plastic bucket or two.

I know more than one person, including my 17 year old son, who has a setup in the garage with thick carpeting fastened to the wall of the garage and that acts as a fence. You can then soft toss any time of the day or night. It can be ten degrees outside or even raining or snowing. You can still get your swings in.

Regulation balls are not necessary and you can use a softer type of ball to practice damage control in your garage or even in your back yard if you opt to soft toss there. (And you will remain on good terms with your neighbors if a batted ball should go over the fence)

If using non regulation baseballs, you will not detract from the benefits of the soft toss drill at all, as the swing is the same no matter what type of ball is being used for the drill.

Many players, coaches and parents use this drill incorrectly. There are many variations and I've tried lots of them.

My Favorite Method:


You stand about 12 feet from a hitter who is about 8 to 10 feet in front of a high fence.
Be very careful. Make sure to avoid areas of the fence that have posts or the batted ball may come right back at the hitter. Make sure the fence you are hitting into is high enough! The person doing the "tossing" should make sure to be in a very safe position so they don't get hit by the batted ball.
Your angle to the hitter should be just about like he's in the batter's box and you're in foul territory just outside the foul line. In other words, if he's a right-handed hitter and you were soft tossing to him, imagine that you are positioned along the first base line, slightly in foul territory. Stay very safely out of the way so there is no chance that you can get hit by the batted ball.
Squat, kneel or sit down with as many baseballs as you want to use right next to you. A plastic bucket is very helpful to sit on and and an additional bucket to hold the baseballs is also very useful.

Three Easy Steps involved:


Holding the ball underhanded, show the hitter the ball.
Drop your hand with the ball in it down toward the ground and pause for about one or two full seconds. (At that point, the hitter should "load up," cocking his hips, hands and elbows.)
Softly toss the ball to the hitter, so that it has a slight arc up and then down. Aim for his back hip, or a different spot if desired and the hitter hits the ball into the fence. Repeat with the remaining baseballs.

It's very important that this drill never be rushed. The purpose is to have a good swing repeated many times until the hitter can do it in his sleep. It is one of the best baseball coaching drills for getting a hitter to break a bad habit or to develop a good habit through repetition.

Once again, be very cautious as to where you are when soft tossing the ball to someone. And make sure there is nothing in front of the hitter that can possibly have the batted ball come right back at the hitter.

The amount of time spent to break a bad habit will be at an absolute minimum because you can soft toss a hundred balls in no time at all!

Larry is the successful author of several very user friendly eBooks and CD's covering 320 topics on playing or coaching excellent baseball. ANY player, coach or parent who wants to help their child will be fully equipped! Check out some FREE baseball tips on hitting and FREE baseball pitching tips at LarryBaseball.com.

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Baseball Hitting Drills - Teaching Plate Discipline

Baseball Hitting Drills - Teaching Plate Discipline
By guest author: Hunter Sendefer

Hitting drills are very important for young players and one of the best hitting drills that a coach can utilize teach plate discipline. It is very important that a hitter learns to have an approach at the plate, rather than simply swinging away at every pitch, so this drill is vital to the hitter's overall makeup.

This drill starts with the screen close enough to the plate that the batting coach pitcher can have excellent control. Each hitter then gets up to ten pitches, although only three strikes will be permitted. Before the hitter steps up to the plate, he or she will be told how many strikes he or she currently has, as this will directly influence how the hitter handles the pitches.

If the hitter is stepping up to the plate with a fresh count, he or she will begin by showing the pitching coach where he or she likes the ball. If the pitch is in the hitter's hitting zone and he or she takes a swing, the pitch count is reduced by one. If the pitch is outside of this hitting zone, but the player still swings, the hitter not only loses that pitch, but one additional pitch. If the pitch is outside of this hitting zone and the player does not swing, the pitch does not count at all. If the pitch is outside of the strike zone altogether and the player swings, however, he or she will lose half of his or her swings remaining.

If there is one strike, the penalty for swinging at a pitch outside the strike zone is less strict, as the player will only lose that pitch plus one more. This is because when there is one strike, pitchers will tend to come after the hitter a little more, which makes these pitches a little harder to lay off.

Finally, when there are two strikes, the hitter's goal is to be as tough an out as possible. If the player swings at a pitch that is in the strike zone, he or she only loses that pitch plus one more. If a pitch that is around the strike zone is taken, it is an additional pitch penalty because umpires tend to call borderline pitches strikes when there are already two strikes. If an obvious strike is taken, that player is done completely because it is never a good idea to take a third strike.

The goal of each hitter turning this drill is to make sure that he or she gets through all ten pitches without striking out. Also make sure that your players know that each strike that you call will be a judgment call, which is exactly how an umpire will make the call. By teaching your players to have an approach at the plate based on the strike count, you can turn them into smarter hitters. You will also be giving them a better idea of where the strike zone is, so they will know which pitches to take and when to take a cut.

Hunter Sendefer is a former player and current youth baseball coach who consistently coaches his teams to the winners column including an active 26 game winning streak. He frequently contributes to http://www.Batting-Trainer.com where you can sign up for free baseball batting videos and hitting tips or learn about the revolutionary new Insider Bat batting trainer. http://www.Batting-Trainer.com/features
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Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

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Selecting a Good Assistant Coach

Selecting a Good Assistant Coach
By guest author: John Nowly

It is a good idea to have at least two assistants. This will give your team more flexibility in working with individual players and different aspects of the game. Ideally, one coach will work with the pitchers, and their development. This will also include trips to the mound to settle them down during a game. The second coach will work on the hitting and base running side of the game. This coach should also be one of the base coaches during the game. You can coach the other base, or have a player do it.

All coaches can work on the fielding aspects of the game. Having coaches assigned to specific tasks helps; they concentrate on learning small areas of the game instead of everything at once. This will be easier on them in their reading and viewing assignments.

If you form a nice team together, you may want to go up with the club from year to year. What that means is that as the players get older you move up to the next level with them. This can be extremely effective in helping everybody's learning curve. As you move up, the new assistant coaches will gain more experience and eventually be able to move into other roles. Your role to the coaches as the manager of the team is to develop their baseball knowledge, place them in a position to succeed, and groom them to become head coaches. That is assuming they are still rookies. If they are experienced veterans, make sure to let them know that you are there to learn from them and their wisdom.

The question you are probably asking yourself now is where can I find assistant coaches. Well, some league directors will allow you to select your own coaches. If you have this opportunity, make sure at least one of the coaches you select has some baseball experience or some good knowledge of the game. Some coaches may decide to select their friends or former teammates.

We live in a world of busy schedules. Nowadays with two working parents and tight budgets, you might not have the luxury of finding someone who is able to commit to help you out. If this is the case, check with your park director. They will have many contacts to other coaches and parents.

As for parents, the park might even assign you a coach whose son or daughter plays for the team and he or she wanted to volunteer. You should have received this information in your league director meeting earlier. If the parent's child plays on the team, you want to know this. Parents are very protective of their child and you want to be aware of the situation up front.

If you still have no such luck in finding a coach, you could try advertising in city or local community papers with a small ad with a phone number. If you are new to coaching, you probably want to advertise for someone with a little experience.

You may now find yourself asking what if the coaches I get do not have any experience. Lack of experience is fine and quite common at younger levels. Everyone has to start somewhere and most people start with coaching their children. Even if you did not play the game at higher levels, with today's media outlets such as what you are watching now, coaches can still be extremely successful by reading and observing.

For reading, there are websites, baseball books and the following lessons will all be helpful in the new venture for you and your rookie assistant. The other extremely important way to learn is by observing. Ask yourself, Which baseball teams are extremely good in your area year after year? I am speaking about youth, high school, college and even the pros. Drive to the high school field or the local baseball park and catch one or two of their practices. Watch the drills they run.

If you have any ambition of moving to the next level, it is not a bad idea to introduce yourself and ask a few questions. If you are going to ask a question, ask pointed questions so you are not wasting their time. For example, I want to improve my second baseman's double play pivot. Do you have any suggestions or drills I can use to accomplish this?

Emulation of top players and coaches will help you and your teams perform better. Once you begin your coaching career, you will be surprised at all the little nuances in the professional game you will notice by watching it on TV. Coaches need to make sure their egos do not get in the way of a child's development.

ProfessorNow.com™ offers free educational courses in an easy to follow format in various subjects. To view a free online course covering the subject of this article, please visit [http://www.professornow.com/coursedescription/coachingyouthbaseball/index.html]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Nowly

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