Posted by: t olson () on Sat Mar 9 20:50:31 2002

We stopped using side toss and instead, for finite placement, we underhand toss from behind a screen 20 feet out in front.

The worst thing you can do is practice bad mechanics. Most tossers don't locate well from the side. You end up getting a small number of decent pitches and end up swinging at everything--bad or good.

Plus the timing issues are drastically different.

We don't use a lot of tee work anymore either--although it's much better than side toss. We do use the heavy bag to train.

So hitting is the 20 foot underhand toss for working on finite placement--low balls, opposite field, chest high, and inside. And some just over the plate to work on general mechanics.

This is followed up by real pitching at a fast pace from as far back as my arm can handle but generally 45-50 feet. I also try not to encourage my son to swing at everything I throw just because I'm too embarrassed to admit I'm throwing crappy that day. If you are throwing poorly on a given day just move the L-screen in and pitch forward underhand toss instead. Otherwise you can undo the good things and drill bad habits. I'm not a believer in machines but I'd use one if I was throwing poorly and couldn't get in control.

I get a kick out of coaches that drill players by pitching neck-high bloopers. This will definitely teach a player to come up out of his legs and lunge rather than staying in his legs. It also drills an uppercut. The batter must learn to stay within himself and hit the ball when it gets to him. It will either drop into the hitting zone or it won't--but if he gets into the habit of raising up for the ball he will be a fool for the curveball. You can get away with the eyes dropping a little as the stride is taken and the legs compress, but you can't get away with coming up routinely. Stay down and wait for it and don't swing at it if it's going to make you come up to get it.