SOFT-TOSS DRILL

Most drills that you can do with the tee you can also do with a coach or teammate positioned to the side and slightly in front of you (fig. 2-29) and tossing you balls one at a time. The "feeder" can toss the ball outside, inside, high, or low; he can mix up his tosses to make you adjust to the ball quickly and react. But he must always toss the ball along the "impact plane" (fig. 2-30). A properly hit ball is contacted along this plane, whether it be inside, down the middle, or away.

2-29. The Soft-Toss Drill: a coach or teammate (the feeder) should position himself to the side and slightly in front of the hitter. If baseballs are being used instead of the recommended whiffle balls, the feeder should wear a helmet at all times.

2-30. The balls should be tossed along the impact plane in order to duplicate the correct hitting area for each pitch location. This notion of the impact plane was developed at the San Diego School of Baseball in the early 1970s.

You must hit "through" the ball-that is, with full extension. Think about driving your bottom arm down (fig. 2-31) and "throwing," or extending, your top hand (fig. 2-32) during your swing. The Soft-Toss Drill can also be used with one hand. When you are working with your bottom arm, the feeder should tell you if your bat head is falling below your hands. Although this is a very difficult drill to do with the bottom arm only, it will yield results in a relatively short time (five or six workouts). If you are doing the drill properly, you will drive the ball down instead of popping it up.

2-31 and 2-32. When you're working on the Soft-Toss Drill, think about driving your bottom hand down and throwing, or extending, your top hand down and through the ball.

You can do the Soft-Toss Drill with your rear knee touching the ground and your other leg straight out. Using the drill in this manner will help you quicken your hand movements (fig. 2-33).

2-33. You may use the Soft-Toss Drill with one knee on the ground in order to isolate your hands. This drill can help you make your hands much quicker.

The feeder should toss the balls with at least 10 seconds between swings. Concentrate on each toss as if it were a game situation. For this reason, you shouldn't take more than 20 swings without a break. A protective screen for the feeder is highly recommended.