From Maury…
One of my favourite baseball drills is the Bucket Drill.  It’s really easy and it teaches kids to hit a target.

You get one baseball player to sit on a bucket; you can set the distance based on the age group.

Have a line of kids ready to receive grounders.
I tend to use cones for this one.
I’ll set up a pair of cones for the starting line and a pair of cones where I want the players to move to when they receive the grounder.
It instills moving to the ball instead of waiting for the ball to come to you.

Once the player receives the grounder he needs to make a throw to the person sitting on the bucket.
If you miss no point.
If the person needs to reach for the ball 1 point.
If you can hit the head or chest as a target and the player on the bucket does not need to move–5 points.

On a hot day I will reward a Slurpy to the top three.  It’s simple and easy and the kids like it.

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From Ryan…
This is a baseball drill I use at every other practice:

1. Start with only the infield on the field, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Shortstop, and Catcher
2. All other players’ lineup in foul territory off of 3rd base
3. Coach hits the ball to the Shortstop who fields the baseball and makes the throw to 1st, 1st then throws to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to catcher
4. During this process, each position follows his/her throw i.e. Short becomes 1st, 1st becomes 2nd, 2nd becomes 3rd, and 3rd becomes catcher, catcher goes to the end of the line.
5. A player in waiting becomes Shortstop and the process starts all over again.

If a player fails to make the fielding play or the throw to the other position, he then goes to the end of the line of players waiting.

This is a very fast paced baseball fielding drill and works on making fielding plays and throws to positions

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From Anthony…
This is a baseball drill to develop soft hands for infielders, pitchers and catchers, but especially middle infielders and turning the double play.

A baseball coach kneels on the infield grass with a bucket of baseballs in front of the shortstop and the shortstop has no glove. The rest of the infield is in position with gloves on. The baseball coach will roll a ball to either the second base or third base side. The shortstop fields and then will say flip or toss to the 2nd or 3rd baseman who then completes the double play.

We use all the Double Play possibilities when working 1st base, 3rd base, catcher and pitcher as the start point.

From John…
One thing that my 9 and 10 year olds are enjoying is that the 2 best efforts given by my boys are allowed to be the captain for the 15 minute scrimmage at the end of practice that they can make longer if they choose.  The captains get to choose their teams and set their defense and batting order.  This has helped get a little extra focus from the boys.  They do realize that it isn’t always the best couple of kids, it is based on effort.

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From Gerry…
I use this baseball drill with first-basemen who are in the fundamental stage of learning baseball…young guys. I find this drill to be simple but quite effective.

Coach position: approximately 15 to 20 feet toward second base from the first base bag. Coach is holding baseball in his/her bare hand.
Player position: Regular fielding position, facing home plate.

The baseball coach then yells “go” and the first baseman goes to get in position to field a throw. At any time the coach tosses the ball at the player. The target for the ball can vary to simulate the unpredicability of the throw he/she will have to field. The coach can work on low throws, high, high and wide. You can decrease the time between go and tossing the ball as suited.

I usually do this drill every practice, especially when other players may be taking ground balls or just working individually with a player who is having difficulty with fielding or even foot placement at the bag.

I have seen quick improvement in players that are somewhat uncoordinated.

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From Eric…
Here’s a baseball practice drill we do EVERY practice.  Takes only 5-10 minutes, and enforces good habits during baseball games when throwing to bases.

1-2-3-Cross
Divide up your team evenly into 4 groups.  Have each group line up behind a base (it’s best to make sure all catchers are in the group behind home, first basemen are in the group behind first, etc.).

Have one player in the group behind home throw the ball to a player at third (1), that player then throws to a player at second (2), that player then throws to a player at first (3), that player then throws to a player at third (Cross).  Continue this in a counter-clockwise rotation.  After a player throws, he goes to the end of the line at his base.

Make a game of it to see how many times in a row they can complete a 1-2-3-Cross.  You’ll be amazed how much this helps come game time!

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From Rick…
Here is a baseball drill that my son, Cooper, and I created recently.

Drill name: 2-Man Juggling
Skill Emphasis:
1. works on quick transfer of ball from glove to throwing hand AND
2. quick toss to a relatively close target AND
3. quick reaction in catching off target throws.

Fun Emphasis: kids love competitions which this can be by counting catches.

Drill goes like this:
Two players with gloves pair up and stand 10-15 feet apart depending on the ages.  Each player has a baseball also.  At the same time, each player tosses the ball to his partner.  As soon as the ball is released, the player needs to locate the ball that was just thrown by his partner.  The player makes the catch and then quickly transfers the ball to his throwing hand and then makes another throw to his partner.  The cycle repeats over and over until one player misses the catch or drops the transfer.

The drill stops until each player has a ball in hand and ready to begin again.  Make sure that the players can increase the speed of the toss/catch cycle, but still be under control. Players can count the number of passes/catches to see how long they can keep it going until one person in the pair misses the catch or the transfer.  The pair with the highest catch number wins something, i.e. first pair of batting practice hitters.

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From Eric…
I have coached sports for about 5 years now. Baseball, basketball and football; baseball is my most comfortable sport to coach. It helps I have a great bunch of kids to coach also. Won championship with this age group (12) for the past 3 years. I did this baseball drill with them last week that they really enjoyed, thought I’d pass it on.

DRILL:
A fielder & runner stand at each base including home.
I say ‘go’ and the runner takes off to first, at the same time the fielder throws the ball to first or third (swap directions each time). Once the runner gets to 1st, the other runner occupying the bag goes to second and so on. Like a relay around the bases. The fielders have to get the ball all the way around the bases 2 times before the runners get around once. The boys got 1-1/2 times around, but they really enjoyed this drill.

I stressed the importance of quick, hard accurate throws and positioning your body for your throw.

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From Don…
Relay Drill:
Kids love games/ competition.  In the middle of baseball practice we will often divide up into teams of 3.

I hand pick the teams so the talent is evened out.  If an odd number then the coaches are included with the youngest or leas talented kids. Player one stands on the foul line just in the grass behind first base (or third- depending on sun) in the outfield.  Player 2 stands 60 feet away (just even with 2nd base). Player 3 stands 60-75 away.  All 3 are in a line perpendicular to the foul line.  The lines are about 20 feet apart.

Each round starts with the baseball on the ground in front of player 1.  On the whistle, Player 1 picks up the ball and fires it to Player 2 who in turn fires it to Player 3.  Player 3 fires back to Player 2 who fires it to Player 1. Player 1 pretends to make a sweep tag on an imaginary runner.  (If a ball is dropped the then the ball has to be returned to the Player that threw the ball before it can be advanced.  This prevents Player 1 from throwing past Player 2 to Player 3).  This ends the first round.

First team to 3 wins the match.  The other two losing teams have to run the bases. This baseball drill has greatly helped our accuracy and speed in getting the ball relayed back into the field.

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From Mike…
I have two neat little baseball drills.

One is I cut out of plywood the best rendition of a glove. I staple a velcro strap to the back. At baseball practice they strap on the wooden glove and I hit grounders to them. This develops SOFT hands, and to teach the kids to cradle and gently field the ball.

The other baseball drill, the kids love. I line up a group of 3-4 players up on the third base line. I toss a tennis ball up in the air and they catch it bare handed. I do this 8-10 times to each player. Then I get a tennis racket and really pop them high in the air. Again they must catch it bare handed. After doing this a little bit, they get their gloves on. We repeat this another 8-10 times now catching it with their gloves. This teaches them how to read a fly ball get under it, follow the ball all the way into the glove.

For added fun, I ask them now to turn around. When I pop the tennis ball in the air I yell,”Call it”. They have to turn around, find it, call the other players off, get under it, and make the play.

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From Joe…
This is a baseball drill I use to get all my players to try out the infield positions:

Have a player at each infield position. The rest of the players line up down the third base line (hopefully not too many). Put an empty bucket in foul territory by third base.

I hit a ground ball to the shortstop and he turns two. The first baseman then makes the throw across the diamond to the third baseman. The third baseman must straddle the bag and make the “V” tag. He tosses the baseball into the bucket at third and hustles to short. The shortstop moves to second and the second baseman goes to first. The first baseman jogs behind the backstop and goes to the end of the line at third.

We make a game of it to see how many times we can be perfect. It gives everyone a taste of each position. We also can switch up how starts the double play (second to short, or first to second to first then the throw to third). Start slow and emphasize proper technique for each position.

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