From Paul…
With young baseball pitchers, I watch their balance and mechanics to start.  I start with the full wind up to help them understand the tempo necessary to throw strikes. The rock step, bringing the leg to your body with a pause to gain your balance, the stride toward the plate, the arm angle, the release, and the follow through to a balanced position to get ready to field your position. Too many kids forget they are a  baseball fielder in this position as well as a thrower.

I progressively get the baseball drill faster until the motion becomes second nature to the player and they can throw strikes consistently. Once I feel comfortable they have the balance down, we then incorporate fielding bunts and driblers down the line at full speed so the player can understand he has to go right or left or get ready for line drives.

Technorati Tags: baseball pitching drills, baseball pitchers, baseball, baseball drill

From Roger…
Idea- This is a baseball drill for the pitchers. Simple but very effective. We do 6 sets of 10. The catcher has a ball and the pitcher has a ball. The pitcher pitches the baseball and the catcher throws the other ball back as quickly as you can. The pitcher runs back or hurries back to the mound and is ready to release as quickly as possible. He will pitch as fast and quickly as he can not really worrying about where it hits as much, but how quickly he can get another ball and pitch it.
Good cardio workout.

From Mike…
A baseball pitching drill that I like to do with my team is a one-hop drill. Utilizing the width of a gym, have your baseball player throw the ball as hard as he can keeping the ball low and hitting the floor in front of the catcher.

This drill teaches the pitcher the proper release point and cuts way down on high pitches.

Technorati Tags: baseball pitchers drills, baseball drill, baseball, baseball pitching drill

From Dave…
Drill 1:
Here is one of my baseball training ideas. As you know there is a right way to avoid being nailed by a wild pitch.
What I do is, have a Batter get ready to hit baseballs in batting practice. They should have their helmets on, batt in hand, and ready to bat. As I’m pitching baseballs to them, I will randomly pitch a white water ballon right at them!  If they turn away and bend over, the worst thing that will happen is get a wet back or behind. It’s great fun on a warm day, and it takes the fear out of being plowed by a wild pitch.

Drill 2:
Here is another baseball drill that I do to teach Pitchers to get ready for the ball to get hit right back at them. You will need a pitcher and a catcher and a batter.

The pitcher goes about his business throwing pitches to the catcher. The batter stands just out of reach of the incoming balls and swings at them, but doesn’t hit them. The baseball coach or player stands right behind the catcher (with protective gear on) and throws a white water balloon right back at the pitcher while the batter is swinging the bat.

This teaches the pitcher to be ready for a line drive right back to him. The worst thing that will happen is that the pitcher will get soaked. Once again it’s a fun drill to do on a warm day.

Technorati Tags: baseball pitching training aids, baseball drills, baseball training, baseball drill, baseball

From Ray…
One of my newest  baseball ideas /drills is to work base running while our pitchers are working through warm ups at the mound.

I have 4 pitchers on my baseball team and after the whole team has gone through their warm up session; stretch, lap around the outside of the field, and then warm up with the whole team working on their throwing, I then bring my pitchers out to the mound.  They have warmed up their arms for pitching while the others were just throwing.

I then have each pitcher throw 5 to 6 pitches and then go to the next pitcher.  While doing this, I put 4 players on 1st, 2nd and 3rd base.  I have taught my players to start their base running motion as the pitcher starts his wind up so that when his right foot comes over, contacts the ground and pushes forward to lift his left foot off the bag, it all happens simultaneously so that the player leaves the bag hard and has not left too early.  We then rotate to the next player in line at that  base.

With young players this takes a few times through the drill so that they understand the advantage they have rather than waiting for the ball to be caught, then leave.  After each of the 4 players has run through this drill at the base, we rotate the groups to the next base.  It is important that all go through each base because you leave each base a little differently and the players need to work this so they are aware of how far to come off each bag, why not to turn their backs to the catcher, why they should be in foul territory when taking a leave at 3rd and why they should be certain they can see both the 2nd baseman and know where the SS is when they break at 2nd.

This drill, although simple, is very useful for game situations.  It makes the opposing defense become aware of the fact that you and your team are here to play aggressively when on offense and with one miscue by the defense, you are one more base around the block.  This builds game savvy and confidence in all of your team players and coaches and quite often is the root cause for a lot of the wins we earn each year.  Aggressive base running.  It is an often overlooked and under coached part of the game.  Me, I tell my players at our 1st practice that we are going to be running, then we start.  And the pitchers get a great work out.  This drill can take 15 to 30 minutes depending on the intensity that you drill in to this piece.

Technorati Tags: baseball coaching software, baseball, drills, base running, pitchers, warm up, throwing, pitching, defense

From Jason…
I have two baseball drills that have worked well for me:  I coach 10U and 12U teams.

Drill 1.  Set up an L screen or net at second base.  Have a coach toss or hit fly balls to the outfielders.  They position themselves to catch the ball then throw into second and try to hit the screen or net.

Drill 2.  The second drill is one I mainly use for my pitchers but works for other positions as well.  I set a baseball on top of a batting tee and set the tee on home plate.  I then have my pitchers try to knock the ball off the tee without hitting the tee.  This really makes the pitcher focus on location.  You can move the tee around or up or down to simulate different pitch locations.

Technorati Tags: the little league baseball, baseball, drills, coach, hit, outfielders, catch, drill, pitchers, pitcher

From Brian…
Double catcher drill:

I like this baseball drill to maximize pitcher and catcher work.
Have a pitcher on the mound throwing to a catcher behind the plate.
Have a second catcher to the left of the first catcher beside a bucket of balls.
Have a SS and 2B and 3B and LF in the field (and baserunners at 1st and 2nd if you want).  The pitcher throws a pitch to the catcher who throws to 2nd to get the runner stealing.  SS covers 2nd and the 2B backs up.  The second catcher has a ball in his hand and when the pitch hits the 1st catcher’s mitt, he pops and throws to 3rd (3b covers and LF backs up the play).

This drill can exercise your pitchers, catchers and fielders in a fairly quick paced drill.  Rotate in pitchers and have the catchers trade places so they each get throws to 3rd and 2nd.

Technorati Tags: baseball pitching drills, catcher, drill, baseball, pitcher, fielders

From Steve…
Here are a couple of baseball drills I use:

1. For Pitchers — “Handkerchief Reach” —
Have the pitchers do their normal pitching motion, without any baseballs. — While watching their mechanics, have a coach see where their front foot (delivery) lands and where their delivery hand lands.   Mark that spot.  — Now take out a handkerchief (towel will do) and have the coach stand directly in front of the pitcher.  Tell the pitcher to do his pitching motion again, but this time to “hit” the handkerchief with his “pitching hand”. Repeat this activity, but each time, the coach moves a distance farther from the pitcher. After about 2 -4 times, the pitcher has increased his “delivery distance” and  “stretched further down/over” — I have had pitchers add between 2 & 4 feet to their delivery motion and “end-up” distance.

This has increased velocity,  improved mechanics, etc.

2. For Fielding Pop Flies –
I use a small plastic round measuring cup, large enough to “catch” a baseball. I start this drill with whiffle balls, until I am sure the players can catch the ball, then I use regular youth baseballs– Object of the drill is to get them “see” the ball go into the cup and have their secondary hand nearby to both “secure’ the catch and get ready to throw the ball. — It doesn’t have to be too high or too far — depends on the ages of the group. — I give one point for a good catch — first one to “3″ wins.

A variation is have 3-man teams and have the players throw the balls to each other up and down a relay line

Technorati Tags: coaching, little league baseball tips and drills, baseball, drills, pitchers, pitching, coach, drill, catch, throw

From Pepe…

My players love drills that have a competitive component.  For simultaneous bunt offense and bunt defense (for advanced 10U players or 12U and up), I form teams of 4 or 5 (great if you have 8, 10, 12 or 15 players at practice). One team in the field (1st baseman, 2nd baseman, shortstop, and 3rd baseman (+ defensive pitcher if you have multiple of 5), one team on offense and, if you have enough players for a 3rd team, they can start in the outfield doing fly ball drills.

Using a batting practice coach as pitcher or a pitching machine (if done with a pitcher playing defense, he simply starts next to the batting practice coach or pitching machine (or if you have a pitcher that pitches consistent strikes, have them bunt off a “live” pitcher), we start with a runner on 1st. We allow the 1st baseman and 3rd baseman to start no closer than 2/3 the distance from home to their respective bases (everyone knows we’re bunting). The defense can charge once the hitter shows bunt. We play this game without a catcher, so there is no stealing.

Teams earn points based on:

Offense earns 1 point if: The bunter is out at 1st, but the runner advances to 3rd.
Offense earns 1 point if: The bunter is safe at 1st, and the runner advances to 2nd.
Offense earns 2 points if: The bunter is safe at 1st, and the runner advances to 3rd.
Offense loses 2 points if: The bunter does not get a bunt down fairly after 3 strikes or bunter pops up, defense catches the ball, and the runner does not advance.

Defense earns 2 points if: The bunter is out at 1st and the runner is tagged out attempting to go to 3rd.
No points awarded if: The bunter is out at 1st and the runner advances to 2nd.

The play is re-set after each hitter, putting the hitter on 1st after their turn at bat. The runner returns to the dugout to get in line for his turn to bunt.

Assign a captain of each team to keep track of their points.

Establish how many times each bunter will get up for each “inning”(twice each usually works best).

The objective is to keep the action moving quickly with no one player standing idle for any length of time. If played with 3 teams, simply rotate after a team completes their turn on offense (offense moves to defense, defense moves to outfield drills, team in outfield moves to offense). Play the game for multiple innings with a reward for the winning team (or a penalty for the losing team(s)).

Technorati Tags: best baseball practice drills, baseball, drill, drills, bunt offense, bunt defense, coach, pitcher, pitching machine

From Jeff…
One baseball drill that I have found that adds value is “Target Practice”. I am sure that this drill exists somewhere. Anyway here we go.

I set up a Juggs net (with strike zone) and a pitching rubber at 48′. I then have the player warm up and throw 15 pitches from the stretch and 15 from the wind-up.

I then measure the accuracy rate of the player from each position so that I can understand what to develop or drawbacks that may need to be addressed for each player during a game (i.e. if the pitcher cannot throw a strike from the wind up then they they should only pitch from the stretch etc.).

I repeat this every couple of weeks to see if our work on pitching fundamentals is effective.

–//–

From Jason…
3 Home plate Drill
When we take batting practice off a machine, I like to place three home plates for the players to stand at.  We take 5 cuts at the normal distance then, move up and take 5 cuts, and then move up 5 cuts.  This makes cage work more challenging and eliminates the player getting the machine timed.  I also like it because it varies what the pitch looks like without changing the machine.

Technorati Tags: baseball drills, baseball, drill, pitches, pitcher, batting practice

To teach kids to snap their wrist when they throw, I told them it is like putting their hand in the cookie jar to grab a cookie (I had first heard this used for shooting a basketball, but the concept works for both).
 
Show them how to create a L with their throwing arm so the elbow points directly to the ground (the upper arm (i.e., bicep) is parallel to the ground, the forearm/hand is perpendicular.)
 
Reinforce the use of the 4 seam grip and then simply snap the wrist forward creating the correct ball rotation (show them how the ball should rotate with a visual by using both of your hands to demonstrate the rotation).

Split the teams evenly and put a bucket (i used a Home Depot paint bucket about 2 feet tall) about 5 feet in front of them. The kid at the front of the line must use the proper grip and wait for the coach to say go (otherwise it becomes chaos).
 
1 point is given for making the shot into the bucket (unless they blatantly did not do the drill correctly) and the game goes to 10 (or whatever).  I try to go through the lines at least 2-3 times.

After the drill, I grabbed out a container filled with cookies (and pretzels since you never know what kids can eat) and had them replicate the motion one last time with a quick snack.

Technorati Tags: coach little league baseball, baseball, drill