Start by putting two players on the pitchers mound (#1 & #2).  Evenly distribute the remaining players at each of the 4 bases.  Have them form a line behind the first player at the base who is getting ready to receive a ball from the mound.

Start the ball with player #1 on the mound.  Have player #1 on the mound throw the baseball to the first person in line at any base.  Player #1 from the mound immediately runs to the end of the line at that base to which they just threw the ball.  The person who received the ball then immediately throws the ball back to the second player standing at the mound (now #1).  The player who just threw the ball back to the mound now races to the mound and gets ready to receive a ball next.

The now first player at the mound quickly throws the ball to a different base and runs to get in line at the base they just threw it to…..the cycle continues quickly with throwing, catching & running.

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Place a player at each base and homeplate to start. No pitcher is needed. The remaining kids line up at short. Hit a ground ball to the shortstop who fields it and throws to first. The baseball is then thrown to the second base where a catch and tag is performed. This proceeds to third base and home with the same catch and tag.

Each kid follows their throw by running to the bag they just threw it to. The shortstop runs to first, first to second, second to third, and third to home. Once the catcher receives the ball he goes back to the shortstop line.

This baseball drill emphasizes fielding, throwing, running/conditioning, and tagging.

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1.  Split your team evenly at each of the 4 bases.
2.  Starting from home a baseball is thrown to third base.
3. 3rd to 2nd, 2nd to 1st, 1st to home and repeat until you are back in your strating position.
4. After you throw the ball you spring to that base.
5.  We count number of balls not caught in the round and they have to do that many sprints during practice.
6. If they get 0 — the coaching staff does a sprint.
7. As a variation that puts a little pressure on–they can choose to try and better their score in a 2nd round.

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We play a game of Move Ups at the end of each baseball practice. The starting rotation takes their positions on the field. The rest of the players are hitters and the baseball coach is the pitcher.

The hitter hits and runs and the defense tries to make outs. For each out that is made, the hitter, or runner that made the out takes a defensive position in left field and all the other defensive players move one position around the horn, with the first baseman now becoming a hitter.

Stay with the same catcher for a while. All of your players will, for at least one at bat, play a new position in the field, learning about the requirements for that position. If a hitter makes it around to score, they remain on the hitting team.

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From Jim…

Here is one of the baseball drills we do indoors to keep it fun for the kids and also integrate conditioning with good mechanics:

The Four Corner Outfield Drill:

1.  Kids get in one single line
2.  Each kid has a baseball
3.  Kid gives baseball to coach and goes on dead sprint, coach throws in over right or left shoulder
4.  Kid hopefully catches ball and continues to next baseball coach,  Coach repeats the drill at each corner until the player is back where they started.
5.  We keep track of how many balls are caught and dropped.
6.  The kids really seem to enjoy it and they don’t even realize they are conditioning and improving their ability to catch the ball on the run properly.  Great for infielders and outfielders.

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1. Buddy Stretch with 5-7 arm stretching exercises before running 2 laps in groups of 2-3 before beginning to short-long warmup throwing.

2. Run 1 & 3rd, Suicide & squeeze & bunt defense and pickoff and rundown baseball plays together at same time using full infield and pitcher and 2 baserunners per 1st & 3d and switch runners out. You may also add Tag-Up & Half way with base coaches on this baseball drill giving signs. Rotate pitchers in & out.  We loosen the kids arms up with Around the Horn and Star Drill before running these scenarios.   We may spend a whole hour- 11/2 hours on this part of the game at practices throughout season.   It helped us win a championship last year in 13-15 yr. old Dixie Boys last year in SC.

3. Run 3-4 batting stations simultaneously at every baseball practice.   The kids start with hitting from the Tee, next to Soft Toss, next to Pepper/Bunt drill and then to hitting at the plate.   This keeps the kids constantly engaged with no sitting around or down time.

It is imperative to have extra baseball coaches or parents to help run these stations and I as the Head Coach and my assistant visit each of these stations to watch the players as they progress from station to station.

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From Kris…
Here is a variant of a common baseball drill.  We do it a lot early in the year more for conditioning and arm strength.

Position
- 1 baseball player at 3rd,
- 2 players at 2nd – 1 runner and 1 fielder; the runner holds his glove because he’ll need it
- the rest of them are in left field.

From behind 3rd, hit a fly ball to left field.
The “runner” on second has to tag-up.
The LF throws to 2nd for a simulated tag out
Fielder at 2nd hrows to 3rd for an attempted real tagout.

The rotation:
Player that was playing 3rd, runs out to LF and gets in line.
The runner is now the 3rd baseman.
The fielder at 2nd is now the runner.
The LF had to run in and be the fielder at 2nd.

The kids love it because there is very little standing around.  I like it because it works on outfield catching and throwing, infield throwing for a tags, timing of a tag-up and sliding, the infield catch and tag.  There is a lot of running.  Although the boys don’t seem to mind.

The first couple of times it’s kind of chaotic, but once the kids catch on it is a blast.
We even keep score by giving a point for good throws, and subtract a point for leaving too early on the tag up, or being thrown out.  The kids always love some competition.

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From Jamie…
T-Ball Drill–The Speed Skater:

We line up in the outfield to do this baseball drill.  Then I have them jog (slow)….I will yell out “Left hand” and they will drag their left hand on the ground, continuing to jog….I will then yell out “Up” they will then begin to jog again….I will yell out “Right hand” and they will drag their right hand on the ground.  We would continue this drill for about 5-10 minutes weaving left and right, circles.  Let your imagination take control.

This is a great t-ball drill…it breaks up the conditioning routine, builds lower back and leg strength, increases flexibility, and reinforces the importance of getting the glove all the way to the ground whether in the outfield coming up on a grounder and making a throw or in the infield “attacking” the slow grounder.

I hope this helps….I haven’t seen many baseball coaches do it, but it was something we used to do in the old days and I have passed it on to my players.

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From David…
One baseball drill for conditioning our players like is a game we call two person touch.

Half the team at home plate, other half split on 1st and 3rd.

Soft toss to a team member at home, he runs bases until both of the team members (1 on first and 1 on 3rd) run and touch the ball he hit, his team getting 1 point for each base he can touch prior to the two players reaching and touching the hit ball.

After they touch the ball the players switch from 1st to 3rd, each player hits once and each player will run for the ball twice.  Then switch the half teams and have the others hit.

(Variation:  let the players who are running after the ball pick it up and throw it to the other player running)  Players have fun competing, but get a good run too.

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From Robyn…
I have a baseball drill that my 10 year olds love to do. It’s the first thing that they ask to do when practice starts; although, I use it as a reward at the end of practice. It’s a grounder’s game that they LOVE.

You may have already heard about it but this is what I do:

-Split the team in half
-Use bats as the boundaries on each end (4 total – 2 each side)
-Space the bats about 20-30′ apart and they line up between the bats facing the other team so it’s 6 against 6
-Hard grounders are then exchanged between teams
-If the ball gets thru, that player is out
-This continues until one team (or both) is down to 1 player – then if the team with one player stops the thrown grounder from going thru, he can pull in another teammate…bumping the advantage of that team up to 2 players
-The first team to lose all the players, loses
-The teammates can back each other up as long as they don’t go behind the imaginary line between the bats – so the player can charge the ball and the team can back him up

The winning team gets to choose what the losing team does – laps or base sprints. They LOVE making this decision.

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