I wanted to make practice fun but still be able to judge arm strength and velocity so I would know who could possibly pitch, make the long throw from 3rd to 1st and so on.

We call this baseball drill–Hitting the Target.
Take 25-30 balls and throw them on the ground at short.  Set up a net at first base to catch the balls and line the players up in 2 lines.  The object is to be the team to get the most balls into the net.

Have the kids run up and grab the baseball with a bare hand and make a good throw to first.  I also used this as a skills practice by not using the gloves which causes the kids to charge the ball and pick it up with the throwing hand and make a good step and throw that was hard and accurate.

It’s a great competition for the kids while teaching them baseball fundamentals and also allowed me to figure out what kids could play certain positions.

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Communicate your expectations to the kids and parents on day 1.  For example–I lay down the law regarding talking while the coach is talking the first time I addressed my team.  If you are direct and draw the line way back the times they cross it are much less frequent.  Let’s face it, they will cross it.

I also ask that parents bring any and all issues to me immediately.  No one is to sit in the stands and criticize.  If there is an issue let’s hear about it. Stay organized. Schedule events as far in advance as possible.

Communicate with the parents by asking them for feedback on practice and ways to handle their child.  Talk about strengths and weaknesses and what we are going to do to correct.

Ask the parents to leave the coaching to the baseball coaches. It’s a long ride home getting unwanted instruction or criticism in the car.  Ask them to communicate specific ideas to the coaches for work in practice.

At the same time a parent may have expertise in an area such as pitching.  In this case the coach may have to leave the pitching instruction to that parent.  Many players have pitching coaches or hitting coaches.  If that is the case, discuss this with the parents and leave it alone.  The parents have invested, in some cases, a lot of money and you shouldn’t mess with it whether you agree or disagree with the instruction.  Expect results, which will determine playing time.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Remember why you are here.  Many of the youth players that we coach will never become professional players.  Teach the technique and grow the skills for the next level.  Team success will come but it doesn’t have to come at all costs.

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It goes like this–form two teams, mark outfield with 2 lines going from the infield out to the fence using helmets or whatever you have. The LINE is the baseline between 2nd and 3rd base.

* Soft toss the baseballs to the players at about the 1st baseline.
* They have 1 swing to hit the ball over the line in the air or they are out.
* Each team gets 3 outs. If the ball is caught past the line it’s an out. If they do not hit it inside the side lines it’s an out (the sidelines can be squeezed in as much as you want to normally we use the 3rd baseline and somewhere left field side of 2nd base).

They score 1 point for every ball not caught that is hit into the “playing field”.  The players will sprint in to hit hoping to catch the other team slacking off on the way out to field after hitting.

The players love this baseball drill! The losing team picks up all the equipment.

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Have the kids make two lines on each side of home plate, from home plate to center field.  Space them about 60′ (distance can vary) apart and have a contest to see how quickly each line can get the baseball from home plate to the center field fence and back to home throwing to each player.

Focus on using the cut off man.  Each player should have their hands up, each thrower should throw to the glove hand and the cutoff man should turn to the glove hand side when they throw to the next cutoff guy.

The two lines create a competition and it usually goes pretty well.  I sometimes vary the drill by adding a base runner with only one cut off line.

This ultimately ends the argument from kids as to how good throws are quicker than any runner.

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• Line up the entire team either around the infield or in a straight line down a foul line.
• Each player counts off and remembers that number.
• The team then turns their back to the baseball coach and when their number is called, quickly turns around and has to find the ball either on the ground or as a pop fly.
• After fielding the ball turns back around and the drill continues. You can get creative with two baseballs or calling two numbers with just one baseball.

This baseball drill promotes communication skills, footwork, fielding and catching the ball. Makes a very nice end of practice competition. Miss the ball and you are out.

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1) Fielding- a garage sale table tennis set $1.  Four paddles are good for hands baseball drill with tossed or hit ball indoors or outside.
2) Fielding- “hold the bill of hat in mouth baseball drill”- helps fielders extend hands and see the baseball to glove
3) Catcher- Clock drill catcher stance- squat facing pitcher (pretend).  Coach calls out 3 (1B), 6 (backstop), 9 (3B), 12 (back to pitcher)-helps with footwork (2-5 minutes)
4) Hitting Drill- (thunderstick with broomstick-$3.00)- wiffle golfs balls-baseball coach tosses or two players take turns; watch for proper swing balance and stance-good for hand/eye coordination.

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This 30 – 45 game will bring a lot of laughter while still enforcing focus and fundamentals of baseball.  Have your starting 9 take the field at their normal positions with a batting practice pitcher on the hill (lot’s of strikes).  The rest of your baseball team get’s to hit normally with a goal of scoring as many runs as possible until the final player gets a turn at bat.

The challenge of this baseball drill is that all batters must run to 3rd base 1st, and 1st base 3rd before arriving at home plate.  All groundballs must be thrown to 3rd for a put-out or second to third for a standard ‘double-play’.

After the last hitter hits, the starting nine comes to the plate but must switch hit opposite their normal strength. (Switch hitters must hit from their weakest side).  Just as the second squad, they must reverse the normal order in which they run the bases.

Players who mistakenly and instinctively start towards first base, must return and touch home plate prior to running to 3rd (1st).  Prepare to laugh!

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1.) Players are positioned at the 3 bases and home plate.
2.) Ball starts at home plate and is thrown in a clockwise motion.
- Right handers make a normal throw to the next base.
- Left-handers make a reverse pivot and then throw to the next base.
3.) Coach can yell “reverse” at any time. At this point the baseball is thrown in a counter clockwise motion.
- Right-handers make a reverse pivot and then throw to the next base.
- Left-handers make a normal throw to the next base.
4.) Coach can yell “across” at any time. At this point the ball is thrown across the diamond.
- 1st basemen throw to 3rd and vice-versa.
- Catchers throw to 2nd base and vice-versa.

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One thing I love to do is soft toss and hitting off a tee with my teams. However hitting baseballs into the fence can damage the fence, and many communities prohibit soft toss because of this reason. So I made a back stop out of a 5 x 4 cloth tarp that had grommet holes. I put S hooks and clips on the tarp so it can be hung on the fence at any field. The kids hit into the tarp and it reduces the damage to the fence. I use tennis balls and wiffle balls a lot now, and there is no damage to the fence!

Here is a pre-game baseball drill that could also be used as a practice drill.  Get all the boys in big circle with their bats and then with 2 coaches in the middle throw golf ball size whiffles to them.  We have a few orange colored balls in addition to the white ones, and we call the orange balls “money balls.”  The boys love to hit them and really get a smile when they hit a “money ball.”

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Stage 1: wrist flips
This isolates forearm and wrist/10ft/7-10 throws/throwing knee/point throwing side elbow to partner-shoulder height/raise forearm and release ball to partner with flip of wrist.

Stage 2: full arm motion
This isolates throwing arm, upper body and core/10ft/7-10 throws/throwing knee/point glove side shoulder towards partner/full range of motion and follow-thru/bring glove up towards chest.

Stage 3: no step catch
This isolates upper body, core, upper legs/30 ft/7-10 throws/hips & shoulders towards partners/front foot open with toes pointing to partner/back foot blocked off/ full range of motion and follow-thru/bring glove up towards chest.

Stage 4: regular catch
This is full throwing motion/30-60 ft/10-15 throws/proper mechanics/plant foot/move feet to ball.

Stage 5: long catch
Introduce crow hop/60-90 ft/10-15 throws/increase intensity of throws/proper mechanics/balance and accuracy/move feet to ball.

Stage 6: functional catch
Introduces specific fielding position for throwing motion/30 ft/10-15 throws/begin with baseball in glove/get a good 4 seemed grip/proper mechanics.

Stage 7: quick catch
20 ft/10-15 throws/good footwork/catch on throwing side, turning glove shoulder to partner/quick exchange.

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