From David…
I coach modified baseball in my school district. One of the toughest skills for my pitchers and first basemen to master has been picking off the runner from first base.  We would practice the traditional way - with a pitcher on the mound, a first baseman, and a runner - but it has never really panned out.

About 3 yrs ago I decided to come up with a new baseball drill to practice this skill.  When we finish our long toss, I bring each pair of players back to a starting distance of about 20-25 ft.  While one line of players remains stationary I have the remaining line across from them move one player over to their left so that the original starting pairs are ‘offset’ in a diagonal line similar to the configuration from the pitcher’s mound to 1B.

The drill begins with all of the baseballs with the players in the same side of the formation.  I then go over throwing from the stretch - explaining that not all of the players may be pitchers but for this drill we need an equal number of pitchers and first basemen.  I start with the pitchers facing home plate and then walk them through the motion - coming set and then looking over to 1B without moving their upper body.  Once they’ve checked out the runner, I have them turn and throw to the first baseman (his partner from the long toss).  We practice both stepping off the rubber and quickly pivoting to throw to
1B.  Their target is the first baseman’s knee closest to the base.

Once the first basemen receive the throw, they become pitchers.  They face CF and we repeat the drill.  We usually do this so that each pitcher makes 5-10 throws to 1B.  We started practicing the pick-off this way and I immediately noticed that my pitchers were able to keep opposing runners much closer to 1B - in fact so close that some teams stopped trying to run on us.  In one game, the other team threw to first probably 15 times through the entire 7 inning game to no avail.  We were
safe every time and successfully stole 5 or 6 bases.  Their runners stayed pretty close to first, only attempted to steal twice, and - the ONLY time we threw to first WE PICKED THE BASE RUNNER OFF!

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From Phillip…
One of the baseball throwing drills we have been using that has helped our 7 & 8 year olds is the one below.

Start out on one knee 5 – 6 feet apart (depending on the age).  Have them put their throwing arm elbow in the pocket of their glove (glove arm going across their body and hold it at the normal height their elbow would be).  Using just their wrist, throw the baseball to their partner making sure that their wrist is coming straight over the top beside their face/eye and not to the side.  This takes all the body motion out of the throw and is forcing an over the top and not a side arm or twisting throw.

Once they have successfully completed 25 to 30 repetitions we then stand up and move back to a distance 10 – 15 feet (depending on the age).  Use the same procedure as described above with one exception, take the elbow out of the glove pocket and rest it on top of the closed glove.  At this point we want them to use from their elbow up, no body motion, to throw the ball to their partner.  Again, make sure that they are bringing the ball beside their face/eye and not to the side.

After 25 to 30 repetitions we again take a few steps back and then go into a full motion throw, making sure that they are bringing the ball over the top and beside their face/eye.  After a few weeks of this baseball drill we have seen a vast improvement in our baseball throwing.  Their throws are more accurate, flatter (took out the “rainbow”) and have greater distance to them.

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From Mike…
This is not really a new baseball drill.
When I teach sliding practice to young kids I use a piece of cardboard to soften the blow.  Kids like it too because they learn to hit the piece of cardboard in a certain spot (outside or inside the bag) and the correct distance before the bag.

I also trace out the correct body position on the cardboard to show the correct type of slide. The cardboard also seems to slide pretty well on the grass and I have very few injuries/strawberries.  Not a new drill but it has worked out pretty good so far.

From Jose…
One of the drills I work with my team is a basic drill that involves 2 players. I have the players face each other. I then have them stand about eight feet apart. One player will turn and face away; the other player will hold the ball and toss it high in the air. Once the ball is in the air,the player that tossed the ball tells the other player to turn around. The player turns around and begins to look in the air for the ball.

This drill has improved my players’ with hand eye coordination and catching the ball. We call this toss-up.

Technorati Tags: baseball practice tips, baseball, drill, sliding, practice, drills, hand eye coordination, catching

From Rob…
Scrambled Eggs
I got this from Minnesota FastPitch. It is a great drill for sliding!!

Have 1/4th the players line up behind first base, 1/4th the players line up behind second base, 1/4th the players line up behind third base, and 1/4th the players line up at home.

You will need to have a dozen or so eggs (not hard boiled). Give 2 eggs (one for each hand) to the first player in line at home. He has to run to first base and slide, with his hands up so as not to break the eggs. The first player in line at first base gets the eggs from the runner and runs to second base and slides.

This continues until all the players have run and slide. You will be amazed how few (if any) eggs are broken.

From John…
My coaching tip is to teach the kids how to slide.

I like to set up a slip and slide and have the kids learn the technique by actually running and sliding on the slip and slide as if they were sliding into a base. This is a great drill when its very hot out and is a lot of fun and also shows them how to slide.

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From Ty…
Maybe you’ve already seen this–baseball throwing accuracy drill

Line all the kids up on the pitching mound.
Put a tee with a ball on it on home plate.
Give the kids 3 or 4 chances (depending on amount of kids) to hit the ball off the tee with another ball. Even if they hit the ball holder on the tee or the tee stand, it shows accuracy and should be rewarded. Kids standing in line should watch and pay attention.

Kids that don’t pay attention will lose one of there chances to hit the ball.  Give a prize next practice @ water break for those kids that hit the ball off the tee–like a Gatorade or a new baseball or anything you desire. A note pad is handy for keeping track of those kids who lose turns and who hit the ball off the tee.  Younger player move up closer to home plate if needed.

Kids love to win things.

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From Brandon…
Soft hands baseball drill ~ Plain and simple.

Bare-handed, players roll a ball back and forth slowly on a roll and field the ball in front of them.  They bring the ball up into their bodies and ready themselves to throw.  (I explain that as a receiver catching a ball in a drill, you don’t just stop, you turn upfield and run)  20-30 reps, 20 -30 backhands, and then throw on a glove and do it again!

From Rich…
Hit a grounder or line drive at an infielder and have fielder make the throw to the catcher. Your catcher tosses out a short bunt in front of the plate so that the infielder has to keep charging.

As soon as the infielder fields the bunt and tosses it to the catcher, throw (or hit) a pop fly back out so the infielder has to catch it over his or her shoulder or head.

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From Dave…
A good buddy of mine works in the majors and saw an interesting baseball drill.

Take outfielders and line them up. Have a couple of footballs handy. Have the outfield tuck the football under their throwing arm like they were a running back, and have them practice tracking down balls over their heads.
The football helps players keep everything “tucked in” so they aren’t flailing all around as they head back toward the wall to make the catch.

From John…
You probably have used this but I find it effective for working on team fly balls and pop ups.

I use tennis balls and a tennis rackett.   So… I place the ball in between zones.
We work on communication as a team.  It is also good for pop ups for catchers.  It enables me to place pop ups between home plate and the screen.

When it is windy it really makes fielders concentrate on following the ball all the way to the glove.

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From Ray…
Here is a baseball drill…
We’ve had players scared to throw with other players because they don’t know their throwing style/speed. This drill prevents the same players pairing up during warm up throws. This also helps each player learn the throwing style of their other teammates and in turn develops trust between players.

Rotate throwing partners:
Have your best throwers/catchers in one line…say there are 6 players onthe grass. The other 6 will be one the foul line with the fence about 5 feet behind them. (The ones closest to the fence are the throwers who aren’t the best catchers-the fence is behind them to prevent them from having to run to get the ball if they miss the catch.)

Once you have your best throwers/catchers paired up with the not so good throwers/catchers you have them throw for about 1 minute then say “rotate”. The players on the foul line will rotate with the other players on the foul line. The good throwers/catchers on the grass DO NOT rotate. Have them throw another minute and then rotate again. You will rotate the foul line kids until every player on the foul line has a chance to throw with every player that is in the other line.

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From Mark…
Here’s a great baseball drill that combines fielding fly balls from left field, hitting the relay, base running, tagging up and tagging out a runner at home.

You’ll need a left fielder, third baseman, catcher and runner.  The runner starts out on third base.

A coach hits a fly ball to left field, the runner has to tag up and try to beat the throw to the plate.  The left fielder has to catch the ball and hit the relay for a throw home to tag the runner.

It teaches the runner to tag up on fly balls and go when the coach says GO.  It teaches the outfielder to set up his catch for a good throw to the relay.  It teaches the relay man how far out he should go  and to turn glove side to make the throw home and lastly, it teaches the catcher how to setup at the plate for a tag.

Hope this one helps one of the coaches out there.  It’s done wonders for out team getting the ball in quickly from all outfield positions.

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From David…
Here is an outfielder drill we call “Quarterback”. Our players love this drill as it challenges them to make a difficult catch!

Drill Purpose: Teaching outfielder to spot and react to fly ball (6 reps each fielder)
Equipment needed: Baseball, glove

Have outfielder lineup on foul line facing away from coach
Outfielder will sprint out about 15 yards
Coach will throw baseball over right or left shoulders about 10 yards in front of the fielder
Once ball is in the air, coach will call “UP”, left or right

From Stephanie…
Playing ‘hot potato’ with your outfielders….teaches them to think fast and get the ball, but to get rid of it quickly.

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