Pre-Game Hitting

[SCflashes]

Any thoughts on what type of ball (small or regular softball) is best for high school players to hit before a game? I've heard arguments for both. Thanks.

 

[David Carter]

Not sure there is a right or wrong answer. I think a lot of times you are limited by logistics, it's not the MLB where you have cages under the dugout. If there is some kind of batting cage I usually try and do some soft toss or front toss with regular softballs. If we don't have anything like that we do front toss with TCB baseballs, some times I'll do the golf ball sized whiffle balls (hard overhand). This is 12U and 14U not high school but not all high schools have great facilities either.

I guess if you have a choice in the perfect world I would have them hitting real balls off a machine or live (BP) pitching.

 

[Bouldersdad]

I was happy if they had enough time to take warm up cuts before games, Most of the time the bus arrived at the field right before game time. Seemed the only games we got proper warm up was home games. Home warm up was the drills we used, then off a tee with real balls in a net and front toss with wiffles

 

[SBFAMILY]

We hit in the cage before that bus comes . We have three cages. Plus we have TCB whiffles and weighted balls we take with us for soft toss. Plus I built multi whip hits that they use to hit off the T with reg balls.

 

[coach james]

I use the tcb and the tcb wiffle balls... I will alternate between them, 10 of each (20 swings total) (front toss)
This has worked well for us and it doesn't require a screen.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

It would be a good experiment to see if it makes any difference, between hitting balls or not touching a bat, until you get on deck. I bet that I played 15 years w/o hitting prior to a game. Then, I started coaching LL the same way.

I do like to see girls warmed up before a game, because it makes sense that it would help. But does it?

 

[softballphreak]

It would be a good experiment to see if it makes any difference, between hitting balls or not touching a bat, until you get on deck. I bet that I played 15 years w/o hitting prior to a game. Then, I started coaching LL the same way.

I do like to see girls warmed up before a game, because it makes sense that it would help. But does it?

I tend to agree that it might not be the best thing to do. I see a lot of bad swings when hitting into nets. I prefer throwing to warm up.

 

[JAD]

There is really no right or wrong answer, but we use heavy ball, soft toss and front toss for a pregame warm up (assuming we have a cage). If we do not have a cage we will use heavy balls and soft toss into a bow net.

 

[Greenmonsters]

It would be a good experiment to see if it makes any difference, between hitting balls or not touching a bat, until you get on deck. I bet that I played 15 years w/o hitting prior to a game. Then, I started coaching LL the same way.

I do like to see girls warmed up before a game, because it makes sense that it would help. But does it?

I find it hard to believe you're really serious about not swinging until game time! No different than starting a game without throwing or running or stretching beforehand. I do want to face the team that does try this experiment!

To the OP - my order of preference: live BP, machine BP, front toss w/ SBs, front toss w/ TCBs, tee and or side toss into net, dry swings. Or a reverse progression of all of the above! No plastic wiffle balls, ever! IME they tend to promote lunging (especially when windy).

 

[SBFAMILY]

I agree on the plastic wiffles. Why I don't like them.