Soft toss machines promise the impossible: a tireless practice partner for twenty bucks an hour of batteries. Some deliver, some are ball-flipping toys, and — the part no product page mentions — sometimes the best soft toss machine is a parent with a bucket. Here's how to tell which situation is yours.
What Soft Toss Machines Actually Do
A soft toss machine lobs balls on a gentle arc from a few feet away, replicating the classic side-toss drill: short, slow, repeatable feeds that let a hitter groove contact mechanics. They shine for solo training — a player who wants 200 swings when nobody's free to feed — and for coaches running multi-station practices where every feeder is needed elsewhere.
The Categories
Battery-powered tossers ($60–$200)
Units like the JUGS Toss and Heater's tossers hold a dozen-plus balls and flip one every several seconds on a consistent arc. Good ones are genuinely useful for tee-adjacent contact work. Weak ones vary the toss enough to train nothing — read reviews for arc consistency specifically, not general satisfaction.
Timed multi-ball feeders ($150–$400)
Bigger hoppers, adjustable intervals, sometimes adjustable trajectory. The interval control matters: 6–8 seconds between tosses forces a full reset — stance, breath, intent — which is what separates practice from a ball-whacking montage.
The free alternative: a human
Hand-fed front toss from behind a screen remains the gold standard — a person can mix locations, change speeds, read the hitter, and demand quality. Machines win on availability, never on quality. If a feeder is available, spend the machine money on balls and an L-screen.
Buying Checklist
Arc consistency above all; interval length (adjustable beats fixed); ball compatibility (real baseballs vs. lite balls — some tossers struggle with regulation weight); hopper capacity versus your actual patience for reloading; and tripod stability on turf or grass. Pair any machine with a swing plan — random swings at a consistent toss is still random practice. Our guide to the five most common swing flaws turns tosser sessions into targeted work, and the batting cage drills library is the full menu to build sessions from.
Where a Soft Toss Machine Fits the Bigger Picture
Tossers cover the bottom of the velocity ladder. The top — real machine speeds, breaking balls, game timing — is what our pitching machine guide covers, and it's also the easiest thing to rent instead of own: private cages with quality machines book by the hour on CageList, so a common setup is a $100 tosser at home for daily contact work plus a weekly booked session for velocity. That combination beats a $1,000 middle-ground purchase for most families.
Care, Batteries, and the Cold
Battery tossers die two ways, both preventable. The first is battery neglect: alkaline cells left in the unit over winter corrode the contacts — pull them at season's end, or better, run rechargeable cells and keep a charged spare set in the ball bag. Expect real-world battery life well below the box claim once temperatures drop; below about 40°F, output sags enough to change the toss arc, which quietly un-calibrates your hitter's timing. The second killer is grit: dust and turf rubber work into the feed wheel and tray pivots, so a monthly wipe-down and a puff of compressed air through the mechanism keeps the toss consistent. Store the unit indoors, not in the cage — UV and moisture age the plastic hopper faster than use does. A $100 tosser treated this way lasts five seasons; neglected, it lasts one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are soft toss machines worth it?
For solo training and station work, yes — buy for arc consistency. If a human feeder is usually available, put the money elsewhere.
Soft toss machine or a tee?
Both, different jobs: the tee for precise contact-point work, the tosser for timing a moving ball. The tee comes first developmentally.
What balls work in battery tossers?
Most handle regulation baseballs but run longer on lite/dimpled balls — check the model's rating, and expect softballs to need a dedicated unit.
How far from the hitter should it sit?
Typically 4–6 feet at a 45-degree angle behind a screen or netting panel, mimicking a human side toss.
