Thank you for writing the article. I had noticed the small toe touch recently.
My question is -- is this something the hitting coaches should notice, or are they trying to figure it out themselves?
I'm guessing that if there is something the coaches have been teaching it would be leaning back more to get lift on the ball. If you look at many of the stances, they are starting out with a lot of weight on the back foot reducing the load, but generating more forward momentum when they attack the ball. That would explain why the Brewers have been off in regards to their timing.
If you look at the two swings, by toe touching in the second video, it give Hoskins the opportunity to stop his head and fix his eyes. This allows him to react better by not introduce two different moving things (ball and head / eyes). If somebody is struggling, quieting things down, like Hoskins has, is a great start.