Ball Tracking & Conditioning Baseball Drill
I line up some outfielders along the foul line about ten feet behind third base (they all have a ball).  I or one of my coaches stands in the middle of the field (approximately ten or so feet behind 2nd).

The first guy in line starts jogging toward the coach, as he reaches him he flips him the ball and starts to sprint toward the first base foul line (this drill is in the outfield but follows the path of the infield).

Once he starts to sprint the coach throws him a fly ball, in which he must track down and catch.

As he flips the ball to the coach the next guy starts to jog out, so there is no real down time.

Once this drill has been ran a few reps, we then start making the catches more difficult by throwing balls over their back shoulder while they run.

It’s a great way to teach outfielders to track balls and a conditioning drill all in one.

“Get Dirty”
Areas of Focus:
Infield
Speed (lateral/explosive)
Vision and Throwing
Conditioning

Instructions:
All players begin on third base, coach or player at 1st base.
Ball is hit in the gap of third base and short stop, player fields ball and throws to first.
Player continues to run toward second base and ball is hit up the middle.
Player runs to first base and the ball is hit in the gap between first and second.
After completion, players rotate from first to third (in the opposite direction).
Two rounds is ideal as an infield drill

Key Area of Focus:
The balls hit are not to be an easy catch – they are choppers and moving rapidly.
Players have to dive, or lunge for the ball.

These are opportunities for the players to stretch themselves and build confidence on getting the balls that are not hit directly at them.  Once the ball is caught, player must balance and then throw.  Ball is hit as soon as player throws ball.

Marathon Drill

• Player 1 starts at first base.
• That player takes a ground ball and throws to the catcher (Player 2).
• Player 1 runs to second, takes a ground ball and throws to Player 2 who has moved to first base.
• Player 1 runs to shortshop, takes ground ball and throws to first base.
• He runs to third base, takes ground ball, throws to first base and finally runs home. He takes a bunt ground ball and throws to first base.

You can score it this way:
1 point for good fielding play
1 point for good throw.

Player with the most points wins.

Cut Off Drill
With 15 players on my team,I split up the players into 3 teams.
You have 2 in left, 2 in center, 2 in right.
2 at 3rd, 2 at short, 2 at 2nd (normal position not at the base) and 3 at home taking the throws from the specific “infielders).

The coach will hit a fly ball to left field who then throws the ball into 3rd base who throws the ball into his “catcher” so to speak.

The players will follow their throws which means left now becomes 3rd, 3rd becomes the catcher and the catcher has to run out to left field.

This is consecutive in all three groups. So as soon as the coach hits the first ball to left field and the throw is made, the coach will then hit the next ball to center to start that group. Then, once the throw is made, the coach then hits the ball to right.

All in all, 3 groups are moving all the time.

This helps the outfielders understand how important it is to hit the “cutoff” man or the bag they are throwing to as well as the infielders to understand how important it is to communicate where the cuts are.

It has also helped in our lining up the cut offs. This is great for conditioning as everyone is moving and the catcher position has to really work to get out to the outfield.

Reflex & Conditioning Drill
The way it works:

• The trainer will stand about five feet a way from the player holding ten baseballs or any even number he can hold.
• The player will have glove in hand in a ready stance.
• Using moderate speed, the trainer will roll a ball straight at the player.

Without stopping the trainer will take balls one at a time and increase the degrees left and right making the player turn his glove and reach wider for the balls from one side to the other.

The trick is to stop the balls in the glove.

The next level would be for the player to toss the balls back to the trainer. This will increase reflex speed with practice and time.

Conditioning/Baserunning Drill

Have an equal number of players at each base (home, 1B, 2B, 3B ).
The first player in line at each base starts at the same time on the coach’s command.

The runner at home takes an imaginary swing (with a bat) and sprints through 1B (hitting the front of the bag), and breaks down as he would had he just hit a single.

The runner at 1B sprints to 2B on an all out steal, sliding to the outside of the bag (as if a throw is coming from the catcher).

The runner at 2B comes off the bag as if a fly ball is hit to RF, returns, tags up and sprints to 3B executing a pop-up slide.

The runner at 3B comes off the bag hard, dives back into 3B turning his head away from the field (as if a throw was coming to 3B), then jumps to his feet and sprints home ensuring he touches the middle of the plate.

We go through this drill long enough to have every player go through all four bases at least two to three times.

I put my players in groups of 3 or 4 and they take turns rolling 5 ground balls to the next person in line.  Then the person who fielded the balls becomes the roller and the roller hustles to the end of the line.

I make it a relay race so that the group of 4 that gets each person 5 ground balls the quickest wins and everyone else has to run a sprint.  We do that a few times then progress to the “knock out drill” where I hit baseballs at them (while still wearing the “soft hands”) and if the don’t field it cleanly, they’re out.

Last player standing wins and the rest run a sprint.  It really has improved their focus and hand-eye coordination on ground balls.  Plus, they like the competitiveness of it.

Another baseball drill that I do for my players is for building speed and agility.  It is called the 60 second drill where they walk at a pace for 30 seconds, jog for 20 seconds and sprint for 10 seconds.  They build up minutes.  Baseball is stop and start which this works towards.

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I start at the 1st base area with a fungo and hit all sorts of balls at them–balls where they need to drop, balls that are high so they have to jump, and balls wide where they may have to jump out and get!

I hit the baseball soft to start out. They will after a while ask me to hit it harder because they are competing against each other on who makes the best play.

I’ve found this baseball drill makes them very aggressive going after wild pitches and they compete with each other on who may have gotten to the hardest ball or who blocked the most! Plus it makes them tougher and it is rapid fire so they get some conditioning as well.

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Players form 2 equal lines, facing first base.
Line ‘A’ beginning in the right batters box, and Line ‘B’ about 15′ up and to the right of the first base line.

On my ‘Go’ command, the first runner in each line runs, ‘A’ to first, and ‘B’ through first and on to second.  Once the first two runners are on base, my commands become, “Primary”, “Secondary”, and then either “Go” or “Back”.  On “Go”, the runner on second scores, the runner on first ends up at third, B ends up on second and A on first.

As a runner scores, they go to the rear of the opposite line from where they started that lap.  I run this baseball drill for about 15 minutes or more, until I’m satisfied that they’re giving maximum effort. Players caught dogging it are given extra laps around the complex.

Things to focus on in doing this baseball drill:

1. Proper rounding of bases, especially first to second;
2. Proper primary and secondary leads, and no crossing over steps;
3. Reaction time returning to base or breaking for the next;
4. Speed and endurance.

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Players caught dogging it are given extra laps around the complex.  The things to focus on in doing the drill:  proper rounding of bases, especially first to second;  proper primary and secondary leads, and no crossing over steps; reaction time returning to base or breaking for the next; speed and endurance.

Players form 2 equal lines, facing first base.
Line ‘A’ beginning in the right batters box.
Line ‘B’ about 15′ up and to the right of the first base line.

On my ‘Go’ command, the first runner in each line runs, ‘A’ to first, and ‘B’ through first and on to second.  Once the first two runners are on base, my commands become, “Primary”, “Secondary”, and then either “Go” or “Back”.  On “Go”, the runner on second scores, the runner on first ends up at third, B ends up on second and A on first.  As a runner scores, they go to the rear of the opposite line from where they started the lap.   I end 95% of baseball practices with this drill.

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