Soft Toss from Behind

Anytime you put a bat in your hand, and there is a ball, you're working on hand-eye coordination. In this baseball instructional video, Bill Ripken shares a simple yet effective hitting drill straight from The Ripken Way library.

How good is your hand-eye coordination? What if the pitch was coming from behind you? Move the soft tosser behind your hitters to enforce quick hands and improve hand-eye coordination.

Variations: 

Hitting 101 with the GREAT Tony Gwynn

Oregon State University Baseball Program T Drills

Oregon State University Baseball Program T Drills

1. Long T (hitting in space so that you can see what the ball does)
• Outside: back spin oppo gap
• Middle: back spin up the middle
• Inside: back spin pull side gap Purpose: When hitting off of T’s on the field or inside, you want to hit baseballs if possible. You need at least 20 yards inside hitting into a drop net. If you are hitting outside, the infield is a great area to set up this drill. Hitting in space allows you to watch what the ball is doing (top spin, side spin, or back spin). What the ball does off of a bat will tell hitters what is going on with their swing path. This is as great way to evaluate and teach proper swing mechanics.

2. Walk up T Drill Purpose: This drill focuses on teaching the hitter that the swing begins with the lower half (ballistic lower half). Posture must be maintained. Set up in a hitting stance approximately six feet back behind the T. Begin by stepping with stride foot, back foot back steps and crosses behind front foot, stride into firm front side and swing.

3. Hop onto back leg – stride – hit. Purpose: You want your weight to stay between your feet when you hit. The key: head over belly button between balls of feet. Keep your butt between your knees and your knees between your feet. When you load, you want weight to shift into the inside of your back leg. Feel the weight on the inside thigh (this will keep you athletic). Hopping onto your back leg with weight staying inside the thigh emphasizes the weight staying stacked inside your feet.

4. High Inside T Purpose: The high inside T forces the hitter to maintain posture from set up to finish. This drill is especially good for hitters who dive into the plate and collapse the back side.

5. Low Outside T Purpose: For most players, this is the hardest ball for them to hit. From a tracking viewpoint, it is furthest away from the eyes. You must maintain posture (you will hook the ball if you lose posture). The ball should be hit with back span into the opposite field gap.

6. Anti bat wrap (bat waggle vertical back and forth v. flat) Purpose: Learning to load with your hands and not your wrists. Also, loading vertically creates a short route to contact with your hands.

7. Inside – Outside – When striding, call outside or inside – hit the location called Purpose: Teaches hitters to take the same stride towards the pitcher. Hips will open in relation to the location of the pitch. The hands take the same route to the ball. 8. Energy to target – ballistic back side (put an object directly behind back foot Example: (helmet) – cannot hit the helmet) Purpose: Back foot should end up with shoe laces pointing towards the ground. You get good backside thrust towards the pitcher v. squishing the bug.

9. Double T – hit two balls off of tee (works on staying on plane and extension through the contact zone) Purpose: Short to the contact point and see how long you can stay in the area of contact with your swing plane.

10.Towel Drill T – Place rolled up towel under front arm pit. (towel must be thrown toward pitcher when hitting – keeps you short to the contact zone) Purpose: You want to keep your front side on line as long as is possible and be short to the contact zone. Towel will come out and should go towards the pitcher if a hitter has ballistic movement towards the pitcher.

11.Hit off a downhill slope – takes energy through the baseball. Keeps front side online. Purpose: The hitter will feel energy going into the baseball. It forces hitters to stay on line and not break down on the back side. You can use a portable mound or get on a mound for this drill.

12. Hit off an uphill slope – stay tall on the backside; hit into a firm front side. Purpose: A hitter who has a hard time staying between his feet and his front side comes off the baseball quick: this will force the hitter to stay between his feet and keep his front side on-line.

Source: http://jugssports.com/Coaches_Corner/various_pdf_files/Drills/T_Drills-OSU.pdf

Batting Practice Pitching Technique / Coach Pitch Pitching Technique - Youth Baseball & Softball

Pitch from 20-30 Feet

Aim for shoulder/chin height

4 Seam grip

Follow through (basketball)

Isaks favorite drills (@ the moment)

Hit-Catch- Throw to 1^st 

^{I will hit to him, he will field and throw to 1st base}


Football Drill
We will set up a "line of scrimmage" and a cone about 15-20 feet away.
I will line up right behind him, he will run to cone and break to the left of right and catch.

Distance Fly Ball
He will run about 20 yards and I will throw to him football style, he will track ball down and catch


Bounce Back-Record Breaker
We line up 1 in front of other about 10-15 feet away from pitch back (we use the Solo Hiter-pitch back) We try to catch as many in a row as possible, trying to break our previous record each time. When ball is dropped, we start over.

Hit Away 

20(Choke-up) 

20(Full Swing) 

20(Bunt)

** We follow Babe Ruths instruction

See here: 

Pitching (Isak likes fast balls)

Soft-toss:

Tips from the Pros: A.J. Pollock on outfield defense

A.J. Pollock didn’t simply hit his way to the big leagues. The Arizona Diamondbacks rookie came into the season rated by Baseball America as the best defensive outfielder in their system.

Drafted in 2009 out of the University of Notre Dame, the 25-year-old center fielder honed his skills at RHAM High School in Hebron, Conn.

In the latest installment of Tips from the Pros, Pollock talks about what goes into being a good defensive outfielder.

On the key to being a good outfielder: “I think what makes an outfielder above average is anticipation. It’s more of a mindset. If you’re thinking ‘This ball is going to be hit far away from me and as hard as possible,’ you’re going to have a better chance to get there; you’re going to have more range. And you need to be anticipating what the guy is trying to do at the plate. On a 2-0 count, or a 3-1 count, a lot of hitters are trying to pull the ball, especially 3- and 4-hole hitters. You need to think the game and be ready to move. Having the right mindset, and knowing what kind of adjustments to make pre-pitch, is going to give you the most range. That’s pretty much the whole deal in the outfield: range.

“Everyone can catch a ball. If you don’t know how to catch a ball … that’s tough to teach. It’s one of those skills most guys just have. What you need to do is get yourself in a position where you can catch balls that aren’t hit right at you.”

On reading hitters: “You make your adjustments just like infielders. You watch what the hitters are doing. With some guys, it’s more difficult. Maybe they like to hit the ball in the air the other way, and when they hit it on the ground, they pull it. That’s because of the way their swing is, so you have to try to understand what the hitter is trying to do. You’re making those adjustments before the pitch is even made. You want the mindset of expecting that every ball is going to be hit to you, and it’s not going to be a pop fly; it’s going be in a gap or behind you. That way your body is geared up to get a jump on the ball.”

On positioning yourself to get a good jump: “You don’t want to be too stiff in the outfield. You have to be relaxed, but it’s not like the infield, where you have to get real low. In the infield, you’re usually two steps hard. In the outfield, you might be running 10 or 15 steps. You have to be loose and athletic, kind of like a tennis player ready to return a serve. You need to be balanced and ready to go in either direction.

“I don’t worry too much about what my first step is, as long as it’s direct. Different people might teach that differently. For me, I just want to be accurate with that first step. I don’t want to take a step in the wrong direction, I want to be perfect with where my feet are going, because when the ball is hit, it shouldn’t take me three steps in order to get in a straight line. It should take one step. If I have to be a little slower in order to be accurate, so be it. I think it’s better to do it that way than risk being wrong.”

On tracking fly balls: “You have to be willing to take your eye off the ball in order to maximize your range. Basically, you have to run to where the ball is hit. You have to work on taking two steps, tracking the ball, and if it’s over your head, turning your numbers to home plate. You can’t be in full sprint if your head is turned toward home plate and your body is turned the other way.

“Practicing that in batting practice is helpful. You’re not going to be comfortable right away taking your eye off the ball, and if you’re going to fail, do it during BP. You do a lot of work before the game. You practice like you’re playing, because you play like you practice.”

On throwing with a purpose: “It’s important to be lined up right. You don’t want your body going one way and your arm going the other way. You want everything in line. The number one thing is, what are you looking at when you throw? Don’t be general; be pinpoint. If you’re not looking at the right thing — if you’re not throwing to the right place — your mechanics aren‘t going to matter. You also need to know where you’re likely to be throwing the ball, before every pitch. That’s part of thinking the game.

“It’s not about showing off your arm. It’s easy to take advantage of guys who are out of control with their throws, especially the higher up you go in levels. As soon as you miss the cutoff man, a runner is going to the next base. You mainly want to concentrate on throwing the ball accurately and hitting the cutoff man. Most of your outs will come that way. You’re still throwing the ball hard, and through the cutoff man, but you’re playing under control. Maybe in Little League, you can show it off and get every guy at the plate, but that doesn’t happen too often when you get to pro ball.

“You’re kind of throwing with pitching mechanics. Some guys do it differently, but I pretty much try to be over the top as much as I can. Outfielders do long toss, just like pitchers. I try to do long toss twice a week, trying to keep my arm in shape. Along with being able to get to the ball and catch it, you have to be strong and accurate with your throws. You need to be well-rounded defensively.”

Source: http://www.baseballjournal.com/news/players/tips/Tips_from_the_Pros_AJ_Pollock_on_outfield_defense

How to: Coach Pitch (Great video)

It is the Batting Practice pitcher's (& the 'Coach Pitch' pitcher) responsibility to consistently give the batter good pitches to hit. Youth baseball and softball players will improve their skills much faster when they are swinging at good pitches