What Is Fungo Hitting

The term “fungo” is used to describe a coach hitting ground balls or fly balls to his players during practice.

Fungo hitting can also be done by players to develop their hand-eye eye coordinations.

Required Equipment

All you need is a bucket of balls, a light-weight bat or a fungo bat, and some empty buckets.

For coaches without experience, you can use a tennis racket or a product called Accubat to conduct flyball drills but I recommend that you learn to use a bat.

Bat Grips

Before diving in, let’s review the basics of how a baseball bat should be gripped.

If you are batting “righty” (standing on the left batter’s box), your right hand is positioned above your weak hand when gripping a bat.

If you are batting “lefty” (standing on the right batter’s box), your left hand is positioned above your weak hand when gripping a bat.

There are two ways of gripping the bat when hitting fungo. There is no correct way of doing it, other than the fact that the decision is purely driven by personal preference.

Try both methods as you may discover that you might be better at tossing with your weak hand.

Method # 1 – Toss the ball with your dominant hand

If you are a right-handed person, you will grip the bat with your left (weak) hand, then toss the ball with your right hand.

Once the ball is tossed, you can grab the bat with your right hand before swinging.

If you are a left-handed person, you will grip the bat with your right (weak) hand, then toss the ball with your left hand.

Once the ball is tossed, you can grab the bat with your left hand before swinging.

Method # 2 – Toss the ball with your weak hand

If you are a right-handed person, you will grip the bat with your right (dominant) hand, then toss the ball with your left (weak) hand.

Once the ball is tossed, you can grab the bat with your left hand before swinging.

If you are a left-handed person, you will grip the bat with your left (dominant) hand, then toss the ball with your right (weak) hand.

Once the ball is tossed, you can grab the bat with your right (weak) hand before swinging.

Tip
A common issue with Method # 2 is that inexperienced hitters tend to grab the bat over the knob of a baseball bat. This results in poor bat control so make sure to learn where your dominant hand should be positioned over the bat.

Hitting Technique – Fungo Ground balls

Fungoing ground balls is a great way for you infielders to practice their defensive skills.

Begin by holding a ball in your hand and grip the bat using one of the methods mentioned in the previous section.

Hold the bat high by your rear shoulder, and toss the ball out in front your front foot.

Quickly place your tossing hand to the bat and allow the ball to drop to your belly button region.

Hitting Tip
I highly recommend gripping the bat with two hands for maximum control. You will also tire less easily, especially if you are hitting multiple buckets of balls.

You want to hit grounders, so make sure to let the ball drop just below waist height before making contact.

Shift your weight from back to front, and step towards the player as you begin your swing.

Swing through the ball and be sure to start the bat high so that your swing path is high to low to force the ball go down onto the ground.

Make sure to watch the ball make contact before shifting your focus to the player.

Depending on the age and their skills, you will have to adjust how hard you hit the ball.

You will also want to make sure that your tossing shoulder is pointed toward the intended target.

step toward the fielderin you front foot as you beging your swing. watch teh ball until you make contact

Hitting Technique – Fungo Fly balls

Fungoing flyballs is similar to hitting groung balls, except that the swing path is from low to high and the contact is made above the waist.

You need to toss the ball higher and the bat must begin the swing below your rear shoulder.

First, shift your weight onto your back foot and drop your rear shoulder, then toss the ball about 12 inches above your head.

Grip the bat with both hands and swing up at the ball.

You want to make contact with the ball at about shoulder height.

Take a step forward into your swing as you did when hitting ground balls.

Make sure to follow through swing arc with your hands and the bat finishing well above your shoulders.

Practice, Practice, and Practice

If it has been awhile since you last picked up a baseball bat, it will take some practice to become an efficient fungo hitter.

When fungoing a ground ball, the most common error is tossing the ball too high, resulting in poor timing. A proper tossing height is around your eyes, not above your head. The swing path of a bat should be parallel to the ground.

When fungoing a fly ball, the most common error is swinging the bat without an “arc”. Unlike fungoing ground balls, a proper tossing height is above your head, and you want to simulate an upper cut to a ball.

In both cases, you want to make sure that the ball is not tossed too close to your body, which forced you to jam the bat.

Stand in a batter’s box and while taking a batting stance, extend your arm out. The position of your hand is where you want the ball to end up.

Bring bucket of baseballs and some empty buckets to practice on the field without your players. Position empty bucks at various infield and outfield positions and try to hit those buckets with your fungo baseballs.

Once you hit all the balls, then go to the outfield and hit them back to the home plate area, rather than simply collecting them

Drawbacks to “fungoed” balls when compared to live balls

Usually when a coach fungoes a ball, the ball is usually hit dead on, resulting in a batted ball with little to no spin.

In contrast, hitting a thrown ball imparts a lot of spin, primarily due to the rotation created by the pitcher and the batter hitting just below or above the center of a ball.

Fielding a fungoed ground ball is similar to fielding a batted, knuckle ball. The lack of spin introduces little movement and it is actually quite slower when compared to a batted ball with a backspin with 7,000-8000 RPM. The no-spin batted ball also tends to travel straight which is not the case for batted balls with a spin.

The same holds true when shagging fungoed flyballs. If the ball is hit dead on, the fly ball will travel in a straight line. If you have played left or right field, you know that the batted balls usually shanks or hooks, and rarely travel straight.

For beginner youth players, basic fungo with no back spin is not really an issue as they need to focus on tracking balls first.

However, for advanced youth players, a coach really needs to practice their fungo skills to introduce back spins. If a coach is unable to do that, he or she may want to explore using a three-wheeled pitching machine to conduct fielding drills.

Video Tutorials

Here are useful videos on fungo batting