Baseball Drills & Coaching Tips

The best technique we used to encourage teamwork in baseball and to bring all twelve kids together to practice as one team quickly was to tell them that “we win as a team and we lose as a team”.

To make sure they understood this concept completely we decided for the fourth practice we would implement what we call the “GUTS” drill.

Before practice we explained exactly what we expected out of each player and the team as a whole.  When a team player was not giving 100% hustle and focusing on the task at hand we would stop the drills and call the entire team to the 3rd base foul line.

We have the team line up finger tips apart and one of the coaches would call out “down”. All players would do push ups, then the baseball coach would call out “over” and the kids would do sit ups and finally the coach would call out “up” and the kids would run in place.

After this drill was complete we would talk to the kids about team work how everyone has to give their best for the team to succeed.  We emphasized that it’s not about winning every game and being perfect but it’s about giving your best effort every time.

I was amazed at how quickly the players came together as one team.  They immediately started encouraging each other and communicating during practices to hustle and stay focused.  Even at the following practice I overheard a couple of the kids telling each other we have to give 100% hustle and stay focused today because I don’t want to do the “GUTS” drill again.

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One of my favorite baseball throwing drills is the Chain Throw. This drill focuses on throwing longer, throwing to the glove hand side, receiving the ball correctly, and receiving and throwing the ball in one fluid motion.

Line up your players, with four players to a line, stretching from one foul line to the other.
Make three or four lines depending on how many players you have at practice.
The baseball starts at the left field line, is thrown to the player in left-center, then thrown to right-center, then to the right foul line and then the sequence is reversed.

When the ball makes it all the way back to the left foul line, the player drops the ball and all of the players rotate up one position with the player who started on the left foul line running all the way to the right foul line.

Once all of the players have rotated through each position in the chain this drill is done.

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One of my favorite baseball pre game drills is what we call “the zip drill”.

When the players are done playing catch (warming up their arms) keep them where they are on the field. You will probably have about 6 on each side depending on your team size in right or left field depending on if your home or away.

Start the baseball on one end and “zip’ the ball back and forth working your way down the line to the other end then back again.

Once they get good at it, do it that way twice. Then have the guys at the starting end once they have thrown, run to the other end as the whole group rotates, so now the whole team is throwing and rotating to the opposite end.

Try it; it’s fun and your players will be warmed up and ready to play!

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Here are two simple yet effective baseball hitting drills that I use with my younger players. Both of them teach concentration as well as enhancing batting skills.

Double Tees
For the first drill I use 2 tees. Put a ball on a tee at home plate in the normal hitting position. Then go ten feet toward the mound and set up another tee with a ball on top. The players hit off the tee at the plate, trying to knock the ball off the tee at the mound.This teaches them to hit the center core of the baseball. Each player gets ten swings.

Foam Golf Ball Drill
We use yellow hard foam golf ball for a hitting station in practice. They can be purchased at any large retail store, and the come in a bag of 24. Down on one knee out in front of the batter I bounce the ball into the “contact zone.” The smaller ball makes batter concentrate on the ball and teaches a quick, compact swing.

Optional: To increase difficulty replace bat with a piece of 1” or 1 ½” PVC bat length capped on both ends. Create several PVC bats and experiment with filling them with various materials to add weight.

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As a coach, we are always searching for those basic baseball training tips that make such a difference with our teams.  These tips are for your younger players.  Simple but so important to teach.

Batting: Both hands should be held at the shoulder with the bat an inch above the shoulder, that way the bat is close to level/slightly raised/hits down on baseball and therefore hands and thus the bat gets to the ball quickly.

Cutoffs:  Always throw the ball to the glove side/chest high with the glove side of the player receiving the ball turned sideways to advance the ball the fastest to the next target.  This eliminates spinning, rotating the body and having to get the body in positon to throw after receiving the ball from another player.

Doing this correctly saves valuable seconds in relay throws.  Both the initial player throwing and the player receiving the first thrown must execute their responsibilities correctly in an effort to throw out runners.

Chin touching Shoulder: I’ve noticed a lot of kids from over the years pulling their heads off the ball and that takes their eyes off their target,which isn’t going to help them hit the ball. So simply have them keep the chin tucked into the shoulder; it really helps to keep the eyes on target and hits will start to pile up!

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