This baseball drill is basically a water balloon toss. The kids don’t realize they are working on catching with two hands, moving to the “ball”, anticipating “ball” trajectory, and appropriate speed, hardness, and accuracy in throwing.

Line the kids up in two lines facing each other, each with a partner across from them. Start 3 feet apart. Each pair has a water balloon, and on the whistle, the balloons get passed from one line to the other. Then one line takes a step back, and the whistle blows for the balloon to get tossed back. Players whose balloons break are eliminated. Repeat until you get a winner.

NOTE: Before each whistle blow, rotate the balloons down a pair, with the balloon from the last pair of kids moving up to the first pair. This eliminates any unfairness due to fill amount or shape.

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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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When the baseball coach yells “go” the first player in each group throws to the second player, second player throws to third player, third player throws to fourth player, fourth player throws to third player etc. until the baseball is returned to the first player.

At first, the focus of the baseball drill is to ensure proper and accurate throwing and turning into the glove hand when receiving and turning to throw (there is NO race until these skills are developed).

Once proper skills are being employed by the players you add the speed and competition of the race to see which team can can go down and back without a dropped ball or overthrow the fastest.

As the season goes on increase the race to down and back twice or even three times!

I like to provide a little incentive by giving the 2nd place team 5 push-ups, 3rd place team 10 push-ups, and fourth place team 15 push-ups. (HINT: Choose four players to pick teams alternating one at a time to get the initial teams; after the first race rotate only the players in position 1; after the second race rotate the players in position 2 etc..to keep things interesting).

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Start with 2 players at every position.  You need 2 coaches hitting balls and 1 catcher for each baseball coach. The coach is positioned on each side of home plate.
Equipment needed: bucket of balls, 2 coaches, 2 players at every position. We used this drill for 9 and 10 year old league and select baseball teams.  They catch on quick and need a break after 10-15 mins of nonstop ground balls.

1. Coach on left hits the baseball to SS.  SS then throws to 2nd base and 2nd base throws back to catcher.  The other coach (Right) at the same time hits to 3rd base and he throws to 1st.  1st base throws back catcher. The players rotate as soon as the ball is thrown. The coach hits the ball immediately after catch to player 2.  If the player misses the ball they let it go and continues.  You can make a contest to see who has the least amount of balls overthrown. (3-5mins)

2. Coach(L) hits to 2nd base, he throws to SS then SS throws home.  Coach(r) hits ball to 1st base, he throws to 3rd base, then back home.(3-5min)

3. Coach (L) hits to ss, he throws to 1st base. Coach (R) hits to 2nd base, he throws to 3rd base then back to catcher.(3-5min)

4. coach (L) hits to SS, he throws to 3rd base. Coach(R) hits to 2nd base he throws to 1st base then back to home. (3-5min)

Total time 12-20 min.

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My youth baseball team loves the baseball drill of Bucket Knock Off.

We set up 2 buckets at home plate and have 3 players stand at pitcher’s mound. Give each of them 14 balls to throw at the bucket, 5 points for every time one of them knocked it over . It made them try so much harder and they could not get enough of it.

Here is the pre-practice routine we use for the baseball teams that I coach:
Each one of these are 10 reps each and the walks and jogs are between the foul line and 2nd base in the outfield.

Arm Swings (hands behind head)
Side Bends
Trunk rotate (full upper body rotation)
Alternate toe touch
Leg Swing
Jog in place pump arms
The next drills are between foul line and second base in the outfield
Walk on toes
Straight leg kick
Knee hug
Butt kick
Lunge walk
Back pedal
High knee skip

I hope these give some ideas to pre practice and pre-game work outs to get the body going.

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It does require 3-4 adults (we used 2 baseball coaches and 1 or 2 parent volunteers), and often in our case, 2 hitting “nets”.
Each station runs for 5 minutes.
As players come in at different times to start practice, they are matched up with a “buddy” or two for stretching and throwing.  1st group to finish stretching/throwing goes to 1st hitting station, and so on.

Station 1: 2 or 3 players with a coach.  Simply work on basic hitting mechanics such as stance, bat position, and 3-step “pop-torque-swing” for lead leg stride (or replace), rotation, and swing with a balanced follow-through.  After 5 minutes group 1 goes to station 2 (2nd group comes in ; coach stays to get consistent instruction to all players) and 2nd group comes in.

Station 2: hitting from the tee.  Each player takes 5 swings from the tee hitting into net.  We have parent volunteer observing the player’s hitting techniques which they’ve observed at station 1.  Players rotate after 5 swings.  After 5 minutes group 1 goes to station 3 and is replaced by group 2.

Station 3: soft toss hitting.  Each player takes 5 swings into net.  We have a parent volunteer toss (angled from side & behind) with mix of tosses (inside toss = pull ; middle toss = up the middle ; outside toss = opposite field).  Players rotate after 5 swings.  After 5 minutes, to to station 4.

Station 4: coach pitch.  Each player takes 5 swings from home plate at normal pitching distance.  We have 2nd baseball coach pitch and observe the swing for any needed instruction learned at station 1 and developed through stations 2 and 3.  Players rotate after 5 swings.  (we have the 1st group players that have already hit “retrieve” their balls).

As the early groups complete, we’ll have the coach from station 1 get them ready for baseball fielding drills while the later groups complete station 4 (or we’ll have them do live fielding with station 4).  We try to rotate our small groups from practice-to-practice as to who goes into station 1 first.

This keeps all players active for a 20 minute session with a good number of swings from the tee, from soft toss, and from live pitching.

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Position one baseball coach in each of the standard outfield positions. All players line-up single file even with the baseball coach in right field beginning at the right field foul line and extending into foul territory. All players need to have a glove and baseball.

One at a time the players run toward the coach in right field – when close enough, and while still running, they underhand toss their ball to the coach and say either “Post” or “Flag” and continue running toward the coach in center field.

The coach in right field will then throw a fly ball over the left (”post”) or right (”flag”) shoulder of the player attempting to force the player to catch the fly ball on the run. The next player in line enters the baseball drill while the first player repeats the process with the center field coach etc. until all the players are in line on the left field foul line.

The drill is then repeated in the opposite direction beginning with the left field coach. No need for a breather on this one as the players have plenty of time between the end of their run and the start of the next one. (HINT: Increase conditioning by reducing the number of players in the drill.)

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I pick two “team Captains” and put half the boys on first, and half on third. Then we run a relay race where the two teams compete to see who can get around the bases (touching all four) quickest.

If anyone misses a base, interferes with the opposing runner or if your team loses the race, that team dose 10 push-ups. I then let the captain of the losing team pick one boy from the winning team and the wining captain pick one boy from the losing team (can’t pick the captain) and do it again.

Once a boy has been “traded” he cant be traded again.

**Make sure they use proper base running technique of course.

I  also like to increase the boys speed by putting them on the bases and have them race around, first one back to the base wins. I coach little league baseball so this is a simple way to get them use to running the bases.

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Coach #1 pitches from the front of the mound.
Coach #2 manages the hitters
Coach #3 manages the transition of hitters and fielders.

• With a 12 to 14 man roster, put a full defensive team in the field (minus a pitcher)
• Create a lineup of your remaining 4 to 6 players
• Coach #2’s job is to manage the dugout and lineup which without leadership can become chaotic
• With Coach #1 pulling balls from a bucket, pitch to the first batter.

• o   All batters start with 2 strikes on them
• o   A strikeout ends the batters term as a “hitter”
• o   Every hit is live and the defense is trying to end each batter’s term as a “hitter” by getting them out
• o   If the batter hits safely, he remains in the lineup at the end of the line
• o   Batters can stay in the lineup as long as they continue to hit safely

• If the hitter is out in any way (strikeout or in the field), he rotates back to the field (sprinting at all times)
• Coach #3 walks the field and upon any “hitter” getting out, he taps the next field on the head and they spring in to the dugout to get a helmet and a bat.  They then take their place in the end of the lineup.  They are replaced in the field by the baseball player that last got out.

This baseball drill re-creates “game like” intensity for both fielders and batters.  It also promotes a very aggressive mentality in your hitters while promoting a good eye and dramatically reduces your called third strikes throughout the year.

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Often while the kids are getting comfortable stepping towards home and with the length of their stride, they lose sight of the fact that they need to play their position and be ready to field the baseball. Young kids will get focused on mechanics and as you know, they learn much faster when they’re having fun!

To keep the kids looking up at the catcher, I’ll have the catcher hold up his hand after the pitch and show either 1, 2 or 3 fingers. The pitcher needs to tell me (I’m standing behind the pitcher) what the number is.

I will signal the catcher behind the pitcher’s back how many fingers to hold up and we’ll keep score.  The kids quickly get into the habit of looking at home after the release and being ready to field the ball.

Another favorite coaching tip for determining flight of a fly ball: With your throwing hand, point at the ball and track it. If your arm is dropping, then run forward to the ball. If your arm is rising, move back.

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