Hitting a change up is hard, and practicing to hit one can be even harder.
That is, until you start using this simple change up front toss drill.
For this drill, you’ll need a partner or a coach, a bucket of regular softball, Zip Balls or The Anywhere Ball – and a protective screen, plus your bat.
Since the majority of pitchers now throw a change up by some form of the back-hand version then we’ll practice identifying the pitcher’s hand position by using this drill.
Place the protective screen about 10 feet in front of where you’ll be hitting. The tosser and the bucket of balls go behind the screen like you see in the picture to the right.
What makes this drill different than regular front toss, is that the tosser will sometimes toss with her hand facing the hitter, just like normal front toss. But then, she’ll sometimes change her hand position and let go with the back of her hand facing the hitter – making the toss be more like a change up.
Your job as the hitter is to closely watch the tosser’s hand position when she lets go of the ball to figure out if it’s going to be a regular speed toss or a slower, change up toss. If you wait until the toss is in the air on its way then you’ve waited too long and will get fooled by the pitch.
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