All players are lined up in dugout in order ready to hit.  The baseball coach is pitching.
Drill is run in rounds.

First Round
Every player at bat until they get a fair hit. (Allows every player to see pitches and get at least one hit and the coaches to see how every player is hitting.

2nd Round
Each player has 3 strikes to get a fair hit. (balls don’t count, but if a player lets a strike go by, it counts) Foul tips keep you alive
Each player who makes a hit goes to the end of the line, any player who does not get a hit grabs their glove and gets on the field.  Any player in the field who catches a fly ball is back in the line up.

3rd Round
Same as round 2, but only 2 strikes to get a fair ball hit.  Foul tips keep you alive

4th Round
Only 1 strike, but ok to foul off a pitch.  If you foul one off your still alive and stay in the box until you either miss a strike, or get a fair hit.

5th round –
1 Strike, no foul tips.  If it is a strike and you swing and miss your out, swing and foul your out, strike and watch it, your out.

Run this baseball drill until there is only one standing.  That player wins and gets some predetermined prize.

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You have regular on field BP. You get one empty bucket, behind an L screen in shallow center field. (Just like major league BP).  You pick one player to start on the bucket. (This is where all the baseballs are thrown when shagged.)

I want all the shaggers to play each batted ball like it’s a game situation.

If they make an error, or don’t hustle to the ball, they replace the guy on the bucket. (They don’t want to be on the bucket, they want to be making the baseball plays.)  If they make a web-gem, then they get to pick who’s on the bucket. Pretty soon you’ll have guys laying out for any ball hit.

When I’m pitching BP, I’m the judge of errors and web-gems. Sometimes I’ll let one of the players be the judge.  Our team has been playing the bucket game for about 2 years now and it’s been working great.

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Bunting Contests –
Break into teams, each player gets ten chances at the plate. If a pitch is in the zone and they don’t offer, it counts as one of their ten chances.  We make an arc from the third baseline to the first baseline about 15-20 feet from the plate.  If the bunt stays fair and behind the arc, they get a point.

Sometimes we’ll work on push bunts and rather than drawing the arc in the dirt. We place 2 sets of cones about 30 to 40 feet from the plate. One set between the rubber and 1st base about 10 feet apart, the other between the rubber and 3rd base (both sets just outside the circle).  Same basic game.  Ten tries, a point for each bunt pushed through the cone zone on either side of the rubber.

Another variation… each baseball player gets one or two tries.   Their success impacts the amount of running we do at the end of practice (e.g. 10 players at 2 attempts each… 15 or more successful attempts we only run one lap as a team, 10-15 we run 2 laps, under 10 we run 3 laps).  We usually have players waiting for their turn doing other baseball drills so as to keep everyone working.

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Divide your team into 3 groups of 4 players. Try and split your players to try and have a fair team

Team A plays the outfield with 4 outfielders
Team B plays the infield
Team C is up at bat

You should have a baseball coach pitching and one catching.
Play up to 3 innings or depending how much time you have, and play a
regular. Try to get the batters out and keep track of the runs.

Once they get the 3 outs or maybe change it 2 outs to speed up the game rotate C to A and B to C.

Keep it rotating until all the teams bat and see who scores the most; depending on the winner you can either have the losers run or maybe have them clean up the equipment.

Let your baseball players choose the position they want to play and let them pick the batting order. You’ll see them position themselves with who is the better infielder, outfielder, and who bats first and who has the power to bring them in.

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Purpose: To learn to hit in all areas of the strike zone.
Procedure:

• From a plywood board or cardboard box, cut out the size of the strike zone and secure it  to a fence or wall.
• Draw nine balls in the rectangle of the strike zone – three across the top of the zone, three across the middle, and three across the bottom.
• Number the balls 1 through 9.  1,2, 3 across the top, 4, 5, 6 in the middle , and 7, 8, 9 on the bottom.
• The player stands in front of the strike zone and practices all parts of his swing on each ball in the zone.

Coaching points–The hitter should remember the entire sequence: stance, load, stride, pivot, and swing.

The baseball coach can stand behind the hitter and call out the number of the baseball at which the hitter should swing.

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You begin with 8 balls.
Start at one end of field area with a batter.
The others are at the other end to gather the balls after being hit.  Once he hits the 8 balls, he stays there to help collect the next balls hit and you move to other end and the batter there hits from there.

Teach them to swing through the ball with proper form to get power. You’ll see immediate results with your baseball players.

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Fence Batting Drill
I get my boys to use a modified “baseball bat” which is a piece of broomstick about 22 inches long, with duct tape wrapped heavily on one end for weight.

I have them grip the “bat” properly (gripping the untaped end) and stand about the length of the “bat” away from a  wall or fence. Then, they simply swing the bat, slowly at first, and  gradually build speed till a full swing develops.

I find this helps to shorten the swing arc and increases the bat speed at the same time. I have developed quite a few power hitters from this simple baseball hitting drill. Fair dinkum!

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Split your team up into three groups. One group in the outfield, one group in the infield, and the other batting.

• Have a baseball coach pitch or someone that will be a good strike pitcher.
• Each batter gets 16 pitches, assuming they are all strikes.
• The first 2 pitches, bunt down 3rd base line. The next two pitches bunt down 1st base line.
• The next 3 pitches will be a hit and run–the batter has to swing and get a piece of the ball no matter where it is pitched.
• The next 3 pitches the batter has to hit the ball to the right side as if to advance the runner from 2nd to 3rd.
• The next 3 pitches the batter has to hit a fly ball to the outfield far enough so a runner can tag from 3rd base and score.
• The next 3 pitches he can hit anywhere.

Each time the batter does not execute the play, that team will get one point. The baseball team with the most points in the end will run a lap around the field, or whatever the coach designates. The team batting moves to the outfield, outfield moves to the infield, infield goes to hit. It’s kind of a fun competition for the players. You can have runners on base if you want to while hitting.

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• Get the kids to hold back the bat.
• Stand behind them and hold the bat making sure that they are extending their arms.
• Hold the bat fairly tight in your hand so that the kids have to pull hard to get it out.

This gets them used to the idea of swinging hard.  This gets them to swing hard and to extend their arms.  (You or your assistant t-ball coach can also use the dot on the ball in conjunction with this to get them used to looking at the ball).

Later introduce the idea of bending their back arm so that the stance looks more like a real baseball hitting stance.

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To correct, this mistake, focus on putting the knob of the bat toward the front toe, and sweeping the plate… making sure the sweet spot of the bat comes through the hitting zone with the timing to make solid contact. Watch the hitting video for step by step demonstration and drills.

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