Self toss to improve coordination and timing?

[PJR202]

I am NOT a hitting instructor. I think my own swing is probably pretty good, but beyond a basic level, I'm not well school in recognizing flaws in technique and teaching corrections, so I stick to coaching (middle school and LL) other parts of the game when I can. We have two other coaches who can do it. So, remember if this question is stupid, you know who you're dealing with.

I've noticed over the years that less experienced hitters have a lot of trouble just tossing the ball up and hitting it, like any coach has to do to hit popups and grounders, etc. There's maybe one kid on our middle school team that can do it.

Granted, it probably doesn't do much to improve (and maybe even causes bad habits?) the swing itself, but it's been pretty clear that people with less experience tracking pitches seem to struggle with a simple toss and hit. Even our kids that do well with side toss don't do well with self toss. And maybe the difficulty for them is just a matter of toss, grip and set bat, then swing, as opposed to just having difficulty tracking it. Maybe it's even hand strength.

Has anyone used self toss as a way to improve tracking and coordination? Is this a terrible idea? I had thought about just trying it with my own kids (8th and 10th grade) to see if it has any effect.

What say you, experts?

 

[Hawk_]

I honestly think its a generation thing. I grew up taking rocks off my driveway and hitting them with a wood bat into the field behind my house. Cause I was bored. Now we have kids taking lessons once a week, practice twice a week and playing almost every weekend. When are they just tossing balls up and hitting them?
I saw this with my DD about a month ago. She asked me how I just toss the ball up and hit it. I was like "whaaaaaaa?" So I showed her and she missed a couple times before doing hitting it. But thought to myself, well she has never had to do that. I throw 1,500 balls a week to her.
So is it a lack of tracking and skill (Trust me my DD mashes balls) or ..... just learning something they never had to do?

 

[RichK]

It IS a coordination thing and I agree most players -- even HS age -- can't do it, or do it well. As a training tool, it is most often used to teach *sequence*, ie, you can't have an all-back, all-forward swing and really hit a self-toss well. You have to separate. But that's another (Technical Hitting Forum) conversation

 

[PJR202]

We used to take our bats and hit anything we could find...rocks, sticks, tennis balls, golf balls. Just anything...lol. I've also noticed that some people toss with their bottom bat hand and some with their top hand. I toss with the bottom hand.

 

[_MIA_]

When I couldn’t find anybody to pitch to me I would self toss for hours by myself..no cell phones back then

 

[clemenslee1]

I am NOT a hitting instructor. I think my own swing is probably pretty good, but beyond a basic level, I'm not well school in recognizing flaws in technique and teaching corrections, so I stick to coaching (middle school and LL) other parts of the game when I can. We have two other coaches who can do it. So, remember if this question is stupid, you know who you're dealing with.

I've noticed over the years that less experienced hitters have a lot of trouble just tossing the ball up and hitting it, like any coach has to do to hit popups and grounders, etc. There's maybe one kid on our middle school team that can do it.

Granted, it probably doesn't do much to improve (and maybe even causes bad habits?) the swing itself, but it's been pretty clear that people with less experience tracking pitches seem to struggle with a simple toss and hit. Even our kids that do well with side toss don't do well with self toss. And maybe the difficulty for them is just a matter of toss, grip and set bat, then swing, as opposed to just having difficulty tracking it. Maybe it's even hand strength.

Has anyone used self toss as a way to improve tracking and coordination? Is this a terrible idea? I had thought about just trying it with my own kids (8th and 10th grade) to see if it has any effect.

What say you, experts?

I would say 90% of the issue with players doing front toss is even being able to toss the ball straight up. That being said one thing that it will teach is how to keep the weight from shifting forward to early to be able to do it well. If you shift early you can't do it. You have to shift on time.

I would hit rocks with just a stick.

 

[Towny9]

At practice I would often take mass infield and have the players rotate through hitting grounders to each other. 4 players at a time each hitting grounders to 2 or 3 infielders at each of the 4 positions. Increases the number of grounders everyone gets. I can 100% say that the better hitters had no trouble hitting grounders. My weaker hitters eventually got better at it, but sometimes it was a hot mess getting them to that point. If you can’t toss a ball up and hit it yourself, you probably aren’t a very good hitter.

 

[Shawn]

I am NOT a hitting instructor. I think my own swing is probably pretty good, but beyond a basic level, I'm not well school in recognizing flaws in technique and teaching corrections, so I stick to coaching (middle school and LL) other parts of the game when I can. We have two other coaches who can do it. So, remember if this question is stupid, you know who you're dealing with.

I've noticed over the years that less experienced hitters have a lot of trouble just tossing the ball up and hitting it, like any coach has to do to hit popups and grounders, etc. There's maybe one kid on our middle school team that can do it.

Granted, it probably doesn't do much to improve (and maybe even causes bad habits?) the swing itself, but it's been pretty clear that people with less experience tracking pitches seem to struggle with a simple toss and hit. Even our kids that do well with side toss don't do well with self toss. And maybe the difficulty for them is just a matter of toss, grip and set bat, then swing, as opposed to just having difficulty tracking it. Maybe it's even hand strength.

Has anyone used self toss as a way to improve tracking and coordination? Is this a terrible idea? I had thought about just trying it with my own kids (8th and 10th grade) to see if it has any effect.

What say you, experts?

No one’s out hitting rocks for distance.

 

[sgurg]

At practice I would often take mass infield and have the players rotate through hitting grounders to each other. 4 players at a time each hitting grounders to 2 or 3 infielders at each of the 4 positions. Increases the number of grounders everyone gets. I can 100% say that the better hitters had no trouble hitting grounders. My weaker hitters eventually got better at it, but sometimes it was a hot mess getting them to that point. If you can’t toss a ball up and hit it yourself, you probably aren’t a very good hitter.

My HS coach did this as well many years ago, but only with two hitters - one on 3rd baseline hitting to group at 2B and one on 1st baseline hitting to another group at SS. Where did you position the other two hitters? Trying to picture how it could safely be done with 4 hitters if I implemented this with my 12u and 14u teams...would be a very efficient drill.

 

[Towny9]

My HS coach did this as well many years ago, but only with two hitters - one on 3rd baseline hitting to group at 2B and one on 1st baseline hitting to another group at SS. Where did you position the other two hitters? Trying to picture how it could safely be done with 4 hitters if I implemented this with my 12u and 14u teams...would be a very efficient drill.

Two hitters on each side of home plate hit to 1st base and 3rd. 2 hitters half way down each baseline hit to SS and 2B from
The far side - so 3rd baseline guy hits to 2nd and vice versa.

I will also do a variation of this where I will have the two players hitting first and third like above, but have a coach at the mound rolling grounders and working with the SS and 2B on double play turns and feeds.