Improve Softball Swing Mechanics – Soft Toss Drills

Softball Swing Mechanics Soft Toss Drills

Learn how to improve softball swing mechanics with soft toss drills for better timing and rhythm.

Often times, I see softball players hitting soft toss with full swings without a clear purpose.
I recommend using soft toss to warm up, form up, and time up your softball swing.
The soft toss drills in this article help isolate key movements and get you ready to perform at the plate.

Players, coaches, and parents ask for my advice regarding softball and baseball equipment.
As a result, I compiled a list of the baseball, softball, and coach’s equipment I recommend below.

Video – Softball Swing Mechanics

In this video, watch as Samantha Roe and I work through a soft toss swing mechanics.
Be sure to follow Samantha on Instagram and Twitter.

Soft Toss Drill Progression

To help build up to a full swing, Samantha Roe and I start with a soft toss progression.

In addition, this softball hitting drill progression is almost identical to the soft toss portion of my baseball hitting drills for the advanced player article.

softball swing mechanics
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Front Arm Soft Toss Drill

First, always use a small, light bat for the one arm drills. The lighter bat helps you control your softball swing.

The goal of this drill is to hit the ball to the opposite field or up the middle while leading with the front hand to create lag.
More importantly, use your leg swings to create timing and rhythm with your lower half.
If you aren’t familiar with leg swings, be sure to checkout my online hitting course.

One Arm Soft Toss Drill
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Back Arm

Next, we switch to the back arm.
As you can see, Samantha Roe does a great job keeping her elbow close the body and the back shoulder inside the ball.

Back Arm Soft Toss Drills
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Alternating Arms

For the third soft toss drill, we combine the first 2 drills by alternating arms with each swing.
Again, the leg swings creates rhythm and allows Samantha to switch arms.

Remember, the correct head position plays an important role in a mechanically sound softball swing.

one arm hitting drill
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Full Swing

For the 4th soft toss drill in this sequence, we take 3 or 4 easy full swings with a normal size bat.
Essentially, the smooth full swing allows Samantha to stretch out a little.
Also, it reminds the player the previous isolated movements help produce the end result.

Full Swing Soft Toss Drill
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Full Swing with Stop at Contact

The full swing stop at contact drill helps the player check the position of their head, lower half, arms, and hands.
This softball hitting drill allows the player to perform a quick checklist to verify the health of their softball swing.

extend after contact hitting drill
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One Hand Let Go

The one hand let go hitting drill consists of a full swing with extend after contact.
This helps the player to not extend to early, which is detrimental to a softball swing.

one hand let go soft toss drill
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Alligator Arms

The alligator arm softball hitting drill forces the player to keep their arms close to their body during the entire swing.
It helps with keeping the shoulders in the zone longer and prevents extending too early.

alligator arms softball swing mechanics
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Stop at Contact

This stop at contact drill resembles the previous stop at contact drill, but with alligator arms.

stop at contact hitting drill
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Soft Toss from Behind Batter

Many people don’t like to use the soft toss from behind hitting drill for various reasons.
Ultimately, I believe these people use it for the wrong purpose or do it incorrectly.

First, I position myself at a 45 degree angle off the back leg of the hitter rather than directly behind.

Once I get into position, I instruct my students to focus on getting their hands through the zone and hit the ball to the opposite field or up the middle.
As a result, this helps create lag and prevents casting the bat.

soft toss from behind hitting drill
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Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope these soft toss drills help improve your softball swing mechanics.

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