Soft Toss
Soft toss is one of the best methods of teaching young players how to properly swing the bat. I found a great resource for performing the proper soft toss. You should start this drill with a “T” so the ball is not the main focus of the drill.
- The batter should be in position and ready to hit the ball.
- Have them “load the hands” by moving them straight back about 4 to 6 inches.
- The batter takes a small step with their lead foot.
- The heal of the back foot should be turned out.
- The batter will swing on your command.
The coach needs to call out each step using a one word command. This drill is a little choppy in the beginning, but after a few repititions, you both will get the hang of it. We used this drill before a game when the batting cage had a backlog of hitters. It reminded kids of the process of swinging a bat. We would start out saying the commands and then the last few swings would be watching them put everything together. Maybe using a “ready…swing”, while watching the hands moving back, the small lead foot step and the back heal turn.