Purpose

Helps vision and ball tracking, while teaching hitters to keep their hands inside the ball.

Drill Setup

  • For younger teams, assign a coach or parent helper to each player, who will act as the tosser.
  • Older players can partner up and toss to each other.
  • The tosser kneels 6-8 feet behind the hitter with a bucket of balls.
  • The hitter sets up at a plate in his normal batting stance, turning his head back to watch the tosser.
Back Toss Baseball Hitting Drill
Coach soft-tosses to hitter from directly behind

How it Works

  1. This drill is similar to a regular soft toss, but the tosser is directly behind the batter in this case.
  2. The tosser softly lobs the ball towards the hitter, aiming for the middle or outside of the plate.
  3. The hitter watches the path of the ball, then takes his normal swing, trying to drive the ball each time.

Coaching Tips

  • One of the most common hitting faults is “casting” or sweeping the barrel around to the point of contact.
  • With this drill, it’s almost impossible to make solid contact with a casting swing. It forces hitters to keep the barrel inside the pitch until the moment of contact.
  • Make it harder: Use smaller, whiffle golf balls to improve vision and tracking.
  • Make it easier: Start by tossing from the front, then move to the side, then behind the hitter as they get more comfortable.