Bunting Practice Drill
I throw bunting to each player on the team, from about 15 feet, as often as I can, working to mimic the velocity and various spins (fastball, curve / drop or change) of the high school pitchers my players are facing.  I also have them throw bunting to each other because sometimes we HAVE to have that bunt put down even if the pitch is not a strike.

For sacrifice bunts, our focus is on three things:
1. When the pitcher is going into his motion, square up and start by lining up the bat at the same angle as the front of the plate and then use the left hand (for right handed batters) for the “steering wheel” that will “drive” or push the ball down third or first depending upon whether the player pulls or pushes the end of the bat to him / away from him.
2. Have the angle of the bat at approximately 5 – 10% above  flat (we don’t teach 45 degree angled bat)
3. Most importantly, line up the oncoming ball, the bat and the batters eyes on the same plane.

If I get them to “look” the ball on to their bats, to get their face down there at the same level as the oncoming ball, they will consistently get the bat on the ball before it hits them in the face mask.  Next we work on bunting the top half of the ball.

Bunting is an important part of our game and we work on it every day.

Baseball Fielding Drill
Set up:
Place 5 balls in a spot along the third base line, making 3 more piles of 5 balls about 12’ apart.
Station 1 cone approximately 15’ across from the pile of balls. (4 piles of balls-4  cones)

Have 1 player kneel behind each pile of balls. (they will be the rollers)
Have 2 players stand behind cones. (they will be the retrievers)
Remainder of players form a line either on right or left side of cone with their glove.

•     Line of players will assume a fielding position.
•     On coaches’ start they will shuffle in front of cones (one at a time) with glove, as the roller rolls a ball at them to be fielded and rolled back to same person who rolled it.
•     The second one in line takes off when the first gets to the third person in line. This way they don’t bunch up in the middle and the line moves swiftly.
•     Remainder of players not rolling or retrieving go thru the drill with their gloves and complete the drill.
•     When the first one reaches the end of the line he hustles back to beginning of drill and repeats the same process 3 times total.

Responsibilities of the retrievers are to make sure the rollers have baseballs in front of them to roll.
At the end of third time thru the players exchange positions and repeat drill. Should be done 3 times from one side.

Repeat the same drill from the other side once everyone has gone thru 3 times. (allows for left and right lateral movement)

Purpose of drill:
1. Increase Cardio
2. Shuffling reminds the girls to stay in 3 point stand when fielding balls
3. Look the ball into glove, tucking chin to chest for proper form
4. Getting ball out of glove quickly with the other hand as they roll it back
5. Proper lateral movement for infielders ( showing them not to stand and move laterally)
6. Coach can watch, correct, instruct on proper shuffling, fielding, etc

Suggestions/Extensions:
Coach can first do the drill with no gloves, bare handed (3 times)
2nd time with glove ( 3 times)
3rd  time fielding with glove and not using the none glove hand to roll back (field with glove, roll with glove)  more advanced (3 times)

Share this with other baseball coaches!

Batting Stance Assessment & Correction
At the beginning of practice I tell all the guys to grab a bat and meet me at the pitchers mound. I tell them to get in a big circle facing in towards me.  I’m standing on the rubber in the middle of the circle.

I ask them to take a few steps backward until I’m sure there is a safe space between each of them.

We then all do some stretching and rotating exercises with the bats to loosen up.
Then I tell them to put their bats on the ground facing me and spread their feet about shoulder length apart or just a little wider. A comfortable A-frame batting placement.  Because they are all facing me, their feet are all facing straight forward, they way you would want them.

With all the players in a circle facing me, I can quickly look around the circle and correct any wrong foot placement. I can look and correct all the players on the team within 30 seconds. I can also ask assistant coaches to walk around behind the players and help correct any wrong placement.

Next–we dance.  I start calling out Left-Right-Left-Right and demonstrate weight transfer from my back foot to the front foot.  Since all the players are in the circle and facing me, they all see me demonstrating the rhythm of the weight transfer and they can all see each other for an example of what we are doing.

Then I ask them to dangle their arms in front of them and swing their arms with the rhythm of the weight transfer…back foot…front foot…back foot..
front foot. Then they pick up their bats and do the weight transfer dance while holding their bats out in front of them perpendicular to their bodies.

Then I yell “lock it up”.  All the guys get set into their bat ready stance and hold as if waiting for a pitch.

At this point I can again look around quickly and check the stances, make sure of feet placement, weight on the back foot, hand and arm placement, head placement and the coaches walk around behind the guys and correct any problems.

When I’m sure everyone is in a correct stance I yell “load and swing”. The guys all load, step, swing and hold.

The coaches and I check the finish of each player.  We check the hip rotation, where the hands finish, straight front leg, not too wide of a front step/foot spacing, back foot twist (squish the bug), and head down.

Again, because everyone is in a circle facing me,  I can quickly walk around and make adjustments in a very short amount of time.

If any player is having a difficult time getting the idea of any part of this drill, I can easily demonstrate all of the steps with all of the players watching me all at the same time. With a 5-15 minute drill I’ve got every player on the same page of what I want their batting stance and swing to look like.

We do this at the beginning of each practice and it gets quicker each time.  Once I have all players using a good and correct batting stance and swing, we then continue other hitting drills.

Our first batting practice this season was very promising and players only needed some small tweaking on their stances because they all knew what we wanted their stances and swings to look like from the very beginning.

I have taught the team to jump into their “Ready Positions”, find and look at the ball, then yell back “READY!”.

This helps keep/get their attention during practice as well as in games.  I have started making somewhat of a mini-game out of it by throwing the ball to the player who had the quickest reaction, and letting them go first in a drill or letting them pick a fun drill or game.

I have even had a few other coaches tell me after games that they could tell it grabbed everyone’s attention (even the crowd’s) and that it was somewhat intimidating, especially when the team was in unison.  Give it a try!  It works and is fun for the kids.

I had trouble with:

• Getting the kids into the batters box,
• Putting their feet in the correct stance,
• Putting the bat on their shoulder and not on my head,
• Getting them to hit the ball and not the tee.

With the help of our other coach, we created a mat from astro turf that had a left and right handed box painted on it as well as home plate and foot prints in both boxes for the kids to place their feet.

We would then ask one of the players to come over, place their feet in the marked spots, look at the black mark I drew on the ball and said “I want you to look at the black dot, count 1-2-3 then swing.”

In just the second practice they were ALL hitting the ball.  At our first game they hit much better than the team we were playing against and the parents were extremely happy!

Fear of the Ball Drill
For our setup we have 4 coaches and 10 players. This can be done while another drill is in progress too, at the same time, as in finish one drill and start another (rotate).

Split the team into groups.
Have the group stand in a row facing the coach who will be about 15-20 feet away (with a glove full of balls).
Have players spread their arms and add a few feet between themselves and the next player in the row.

Then have one assistant coach (or good catcher) play as the first base or cut-off (target) at one central location so all players can reach the target.  The coach will have 5 balls in the glove and side step quickly down the row throwing the following balls at the fielder: over head (1 foot above the head line drive), pop-up, grounder and dribbler that stops before them making the player charge and field the ball with their throwing hand and make the play.

It gets crazy when they all miss and all start throwing the balls at the coach.  But that’s kind of fun too as long as everyone is paying attention.

Then they get into the groove and the coach can repeat throwing types at random: throwing grounders to the left and right, higher pop-flies, etc.  It’s good exercise for the coach too!

Indoor Baseball Relay Drill
1. Form 2 lines
2. Have a ball on the half court line out in front of each line
3. When the whistle blows, the first person in each line runs to the ball and scoops it into the glove
4. They then make a hard throw against the far wall ( it is important to make a hard level throw and not a big rainbow so you can get the ball quicker)
5. They then charge the ball and field it and throw against the wall 3 more times, staying behind a designated line on the floor
6. They then race back and place the ball on the half court line
7. They then run back and tag the next player in line (make sure they tag behind the starting line) and repeat process until all players have gone through

If they miss one of the rules, they have to do one quick push up before they can continue. Usually the team that loses is due to an error in throwing or lack of attention to detail.

We utilize this time afterwards to discuss what went wrong and also how they can improve it. This goes along with our theme that we want to try and play error free ball.

Nerf Ball Catch
To me, it has proven to be unproductive to have kids who have trouble throwing throw to kids who don’t have the motor skills to catch a ball with one hand in a glove.

However, I have found it beneficial to have them play catch using a Nerf ball (without gloves). A ball about a little larger than a softball seams to work the best. You can work on throwing mechanics as well as the motor skills and concepts of catching. Plus, the kids have a blast.

Another use with the nerf ball – have the advanced kids play catch with themselves by throwing against a wall.

Foam Bat Hitting Drill
Another idea I have found useful is to use a LARGE, inflatable baseball (Walmart for $5.00)  and have the kids practice hitting it off the tee for starters.

This gives the kids a GREAT sense of confidence to hit the ball and not ‘swing and miss’ a whole bunch.

Word of Advice:  Might want to start with a foam/softer bat at first so those power-hitters don’t pop the ball.  A HUGE response from the parents–mostly laughter and cheers!

Basic Skills Drill
My favorite practice is to take a team of 12 split them in half (half batting half fielding)
Batting has 6 stations–1. tee work 2. a flat soccer ball soft toss 3. soft toss 4. bunting
5. underhand pitching from 20 feet behind L screen 6. live coach pitch .
Each station lasts 5 minutes.

While the batters are batting the other 6 take positions around the infield (one outfield shagging) for 5 minutes these kids work at each position learning how to play each. After 1 hour each has swung the bat for 30 minutes and fielded for 25. Works great

Visualization Drill
I coach 12 year old boys baseball and we do a lot of indoor practice during the months we cannot get outside. We have found a very effective means of working situations with these limitations.

We use a lot of visualization. The boys lay down on the backs and we get them almost in a meditation mode. We then setup a situation (either defense or offense). We talk through it twice and then get the boys up, set it up with the space we have, positioning the players in the correct positions to that situation and then walk through the proper actions/re-actions.

Then, when we do get outside, the mindset is already there and it is live. This has worked very well for us the past couple of seasons.

Hitting BASICS
Hitting is critical for every team, no matter what age.  Don’t assume anything and remember to go back to the basics.

Specifically: what does a batter do to once they step into the box.  They should start with: feet, grip, position, and trigger.  Most players, good hitters or bad, just jump in the box and try to hit the heck out of the ball.

Stop them next time at practice and ask the following questions:

1. Where are your feet?
2. Where do they point?
3. How are your hands aligned and to what are they aligned?
4. What do your knees do (position)?
5. Where are your shoulders?
6. What position is your body in?
7. Where does your bat go before your swing?
8. What are the first 3 things that move when you start your swing (trigger)?

If they have responses for each of these, evaluate them and adjust as needed.  If they have no process to go through before they start their at bat, than teaching the basics will go a long ways.