Posted by: Mark H. () on Sat Mar 16 16:29:23 2002

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

A college coach told me that side toss should be done on a different angle than most I see do it. Since the inside pitch should be hit somewhat farther out in front than the outside pitch, you should side toss at such an angle that the toss is moving farther from the hitter as you locate the ball farther inside. Most people I see are tossing the ball from slightly in front as well as off to the side (as if they moved a little down the first base line for a rh hitter and tossed from there). Instead, sit right in front of the hitter (just far enough away for safety) and toss slightly forward at such an angle that the inside contact location will be farther out in front than the outside contact point. Maybe this is common practice among batspeeed forum readers, but I see most people doing it backwards.

Mark H.