Purposely mixing in balls during front toss

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Jun 8, 2016
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How many of you do it, in particular with kids who have just started kid pitch? My DD's approach/aggressiveness differs greatly in front toss vs kid pitch. I've told her she needs to expect, and be ready, to swing on every pitch but I'm wondering if making front toss a little more game like in terms of percentage of balls and strikes would help some. I do move the ball around the strike zone during front toss but 99% of the pitches are strikes. Thoughts?
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
It is pretty easy to trick them and strike them out if you want to.

Moving to ball around is fine but I try not to trick them.

Other thing you can do is not have her swing, she has to call out if is a ball or strike.
 
Last edited:
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
It is pretty easy to trick them and strike them out if you want to.

Moving to ball around is fine but I try not to trick them.

I'm not talking about tricking them, although I guess you could call it that, I'm talking about creating a setting where mentally they are in a similar place as
they would be in a game, e.g. sometimes it is a yes-yes-no scenario vs. always yes-yes-yes if that makes sense. Right
now in front toss my DD is yes-yes-yes and it looks to me that with live pitching my DD is either no-no-yes or no-no-no...

I've talked to her, as gently as I can, about how you should approach every pitch as if you were going to swing but no amount
of talking is a substitute for actually being put in the situation. I also realize that there is no substitute for game situations, and once a hitter has
developed the proper thought process in those situations you probably go back to what you see in MLB BP e.g. the pitcher is trying to throw a strike every time.

Anyway, just a thought. Wanted to see if anybody has tried this.
 
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Apr 5, 2013
2,130
83
Back on the dirt...
I do it, cause my pitching sucks the harder I throw...LOL. IDK if it helps or not but I have to think it does. I generally start off slow and well placed then pick up the speed and move the ball around a lot as we near the bottom of the bucket.



I usually tell them if it is a strike or ball. “Hey that was a ball and you shouldn’t swing at junk” or “ that was a strike. You need to drive that sucker to the woods!” Especially if its league ball.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I do it, cause my pitching sucks the harder I throw...LOL. IDK if it helps or not but I have to think it does. I generally start off slow and well placed then pick up the speed and move the ball around a lot as we near the bottom of the bucket.



I usually tell them if it is a strike or ball. “Hey that was a ball and you shouldn’t swing at junk” or “ that was a strike. You need to drive that sucker to the woods!” Especially if its league ball.

Yeah, the front toss her coaches throw to her have this built in already since for whatever reason they can't throw strikes consistently from 15 to 20 feet :p. Maybe that's enough..I'm just searching.
DD didn't look ready to hit at all last night in the 10 or so pitches I saw. Part of it is probably apprehension since this girl a) throws fairly hard for her age b)is all over the place and c) hit my DD 3 times a few weeks
ago in practice. I may regret suggesting to the HC that he have the pitchers pitch live to the girls :(
 
Aug 23, 2016
359
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How many of you do it, in particular with kids who have just started kid pitch? My DD's approach/aggressiveness differs greatly in front toss vs kid pitch. I've told her she needs to expect, and be ready, to swing on every pitch but I'm wondering if making front toss a little more game like in terms of percentage of balls and strikes would help some. I do move the ball around the strike zone during front toss but 99% of the pitches are strikes. Thoughts?

My DD's hitting coach tried this with her when she was getting too aggressive at the plate. She developed a great eye during lessons, still swung at too many bad balls during games. He gave up on that drill.

She's young, don't give her too much to think about.
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
Right
now in front toss my DD is yes-yes-yes and it looks to me that with live pitching my DD is either no-no-yes or no-no-no...

DD is 16 and still falls back into this. IMO, one of the worse things that happen in the 8-10 yo range is for them to have 'success' walking by being patient(/picky). By the time they get into showcase and HS, the walk ratio goes way down and they need to be jumping on hit-able pitches. Retraining that thought process can be challenging... from experience.

The solution may not be in changing up the batting practice approach, but instead changing the mental mindset during the games.
- Make sure the first strike is a foul ball or a miss and don't let the pitcher get the first "called" strike.
- Get in three swings during every at bat.
- Never let the last strike be a called strike.
- If you can hit it, then hit it, don't worry whether it's a strike.
- And as a coach/parent, never criticize for swinging at a bad pitch.

Let them get their hacks in and build a mindset, you can always reign it in and refine in 12's and 14's.

I recently watched BC play #18 Ole Miss and beat them. It was clear from the start of the game they were going to hack at anything they could hit and not let the pitchers find their comfort zone.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
DD is 16 and still falls back into this. IMO, one of the worse things that happen in the 8-10 yo range is for them to have 'success' walking by being patient(/picky). By the time they get into showcase and HS, the walk ratio goes way down and they need to be jumping on hit-able pitches. Retraining that thought process can be challenging... from experience.

The solution may not be in changing up the batting practice approach, but instead changing the mental mindset during the games.
- Make sure the first strike is a foul ball or a miss and don't let the pitcher get the first "called" strike.
- Get in three swings during every at bat.
- Never let the last strike be a called strike.
- If you can hit it, then hit it, don't worry whether it's a strike.
- And as a coach/parent, never criticize for swinging at a bad pitch.

Let them get their hacks in and build a mindset, you can always reign it in and refine in 12's and 14's.

I recently watched BC play #18 Ole Miss and beat them. It was clear from the start of the game they were going to hack at anything they could hit and not let the pitchers find their comfort zone.

Thanks. Yes, I've told/reinforced many of the things you said to her already. In her first kid pitch tournaments it seems like it would take a game or two to get comfortable and be aggressive. Unfortunately at times
the HC gives mixed messages, tells them they need to be aggressive and then scolds them when they swing at a bad pitch. At that age I will take
swinging at a ball out of the zone every time to sitting there with the bat on their shoulder, or almost as bad,
giving a half-rear swing because they had a no-no-yes mentality. At her age my DD tries to listen to everybody..... We'll see how this season plays out
 

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