Coaching Drills Using the Pop Toss

Here are some drills that coaches of Baseball and Softball teams use with the Pop Toss to make their limited practice time work wonders for their hitters.

Soft-Toss Drill

Conventional and time tested, this drill gets a players hand-eye coordination, muscle memory and bat speed in tip top shape.  With the Pop Toss it makes it easier on the coaches by having the players take it by themselves so nobody has to throw the ball to them.  If you have 10 Pop Toss’s then 10 players can hit at once leaving the coach able to walk up and down the line and help make adjustments in their players swings.

Just set up the Pop Toss off to the side of the hitter like in a conventional Soft-Toss drill and let the hitter load the machine, take their stance and swing.  Now theres a quality pitch every time without losing practice time.

Clik on the picture to the right to watch a video example.

Front Soft-Toss Drill

Like the conventional Soft-Toss drill this helps hand-eye coordination and bat speed but it also helps with problem areas in the strike zone.  You can set it up to pitch to the inside or outside corners as well as high and low in the strike zone.  With the Pop Toss you can adjust the different features to increase spin, height and angle in order to target problem areas for each individual hitter.

Just place the Pop Toss a few feet in front of where home plate would be (place inside or behind a bucket to protect the Pop Toss from a renegade ball) and set it up to pitch the ball to problem areas; inside, outside, high and low in the strike zone.  Just by playing with the different features of our machine you can simulate all different kinds of pitches.

Click on the picture to the left to watch a video example.

Closed Eye Soft-Toss Drill

The thing coaches preach over and over again is “Keep your eyes on the ball”, easier said than done.  Most hitters end up guessing where a pitch is going to be instead of bringing the bat to where the ball is in the strike zone and making contact.  These next two drills train hitters to not pay attention to anything besides the ball in the strike zone.

This is for novice to advanced hitters.  You can set up the Pop Toss to the side, in front or behind the hitter for this one, just make sure it is crossing the plate somewhere.  Have the hitter close their eyes until they hear the pop of the ball launch.  Then as they are opening their eyes they have to swing the bat and make contact with the ball.  As they continue to work on this drill you will see immediate improvement in their hand-eye coordination and ball recognition.

Click on the picture to the right to watch a video example.

Backwards Soft-Toss Drill

This is for advanced hitters.  This will get that bat speed and hand-eye coordination precise for advanced hitters.

Set up the Pop Toss a few feet behind the hitter and angle it so it puts the pitch in their strike zone.  Now watch the bat speed increase and watch how your players will react and make contact with the ball instead of guessing where the ball is going to be.