From Dave…
Competition Long Toss

Here’s one baseball drill I use with my kids every practice. They love it because of the competition factor. If I don’t do this at a baseball practice, all the kids beg to do it.

Players pick a partner and spread out down the foul line with one set on the foul line and the other in the outfield somewhere (maybe 20 feet away or longer as players get older/better) lined up with their partner. Players on foul line have the baseball. On command they throw to their partner. Their partner catches the ball and holds it. On command they throw it back. After each successful throw and return throw, the outfield line moves 3 steps back and the drill starts over. The key is that the player catching the ball cannot move more than his 1 foot to catch it AND must catch it cleanly. Basically the player catching the ball can act as a first baseman, keeping one foot planted. Another way of thinking is the player catching the ball cannot be called for travelling if he is playing basketball. The player must field it cleanly, or his “team” is out (I make them sit down until the competition is over). Throwers can crow hop the longer throws and can bounce them in as long as the fielder can field/catch it cleanly. Remember to move back 3 steps after each successful throw and return.

You will find your players arm strength and accuracy will build if you do this every practice. Also, you will find the distance that players can throw accurately will increase dramatically between the start of your season and the end of the season. Generally, I do 1 warm-up contest and then 2 or 3 contests that “count”. Sometimes we do it until 1 team has won 2 of the competitions. Players love keeping their own records on their wins/losses over the season. Some players challenge themselves to have a win with every other player on the team over the course of the year. At every practice, the players are not allowed to have the same partner they had at the previous practice.

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Towel Drill, by Thomas Spilker (Fort Worth Bronco Baseball Head Coach)
Intent – improve baseball throwing accuracy; improve hand eye coordination, improve ball handling skill, & increase team spirit
Equipment  – 2 hand towels (these are the targets)
Setup – tie the towels onto a backstop (same height and about 15 feet apart)

Break the players into 2 groups (count off 1 – 2; 1 – 2; 1 – 2, and so on)
Mark two lines – equal distance form the towel (targets), players can not cross this line or it’s a no throw …

Each team begins at the same time and then plays at their own pace. First play throws at the towel – a hit counts as 1 point. The play that just threw retrieves the baseball (regardless of point of not) and MUST get it to the next player with an underhand toss.

The first team to hit their towel (target) 5 times wins the round. Play for the best 2 out of 3 rounds.
Players yell out HIT!!! For each scoring throw and keep the their own score count. Baseball coaches and parents can play.

This is a lot of fun and the players love it. Vary the distance and towel size as desired. Let the players decide how fast to go but encourage “slow is fast”.

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From Andrew…
Here is a good warm-up plus baseball drill–Great for indoor work outs.
This drill is to stress to our fielders to stay low when fielding a ground ball and stay low when making the under hand toss to a base. If you stand up and throw you will waste time and often throw too high.

When I am in a gym we set it up as follows:

• Two lines of players on the base line no gloves on.
• I place one baseball at each elbow of the basketball key.
• On “go” the players run to opposite end of gym, touch the base line and run back.
• When they get to the elbow they get low, pick up the ball and while staying low toss the ball to the next player on line.
• This player runs to elbow, places the ball down and continues to opposite side of gym and repeats picking up ball and tossing it.

It can be done as a race or just a slow jog.

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From Patrick…
Drill:  In, Out, Up the Middle

Setup:
This baseball drill can be used during baseball practice or as an individual or team competition.
Place 2 cones on the edge of the outfield grass, 1 behind the shortstop and 1 behind the second baseman. This divides the field into 3 areas.  Place 2 strips of tape from the front of the plate to the back to divide home plate into 3 equal sections. Place a pitching screen close enough to home plate that you can control the location of the pitch.

Execution:
As each pitch approaches the plate, the hitter must call out the location as he starts his swing (in, out, or middle) and hit the ball to the appropriate part of the field.

Example: Right-handed hitter: Inside pitch– hitter should call out “in” and pull the baseball to the left side of the infield. Outside pitch– hitter should call “out” and hit the ball to the opposite field. Pitch down the middle; hitter calls out middle and hits the ball back up the middle.

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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 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 James…
Outfield Game–
Line up outfielders in centerfield with rounded open-top trash can on home plate (lying down with opening facing centerfield) and have them throw a one hopper into the trash can.  It teaches the importance of keeping the baseball down while encouraging accuracy.

Award points for throwing in/near can.

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From Brad…
Here is our version of the scrambled eggs baseball drill.  It takes a little advance planning to rotate everyone through but it teaches a lot of skills and we have fun doing it.  We call it 7 inning scramble.

Put 9 players in the field and use the rest as runners.  The first runner stands in the batting box with an egg in each hand.  The coach hits a baseball for the runner and the game is on.  Everyone plays as if it is a real game.

I place a cone near the pitching rubber and one in center field.  If the runners score 3 runs before 3 outs, the infielders run to the outfield cone and back and the outfielders run to the cone at the mound and back.  If the fielders get 3 outs before the runners get 3 runs, the runners all run the bases. Since the coach is hitting, they can make a hit that will get someone on base, make a close play, a fly or a bunt.  I like to reward whoever is hustling.  If the fielders are working hard, I might hit a soft grounder and give them a double-play chance.  If the runners are aggressive and stealing, I might hit a rocket past 3rd base.

Each inning we change fielder positions and runners and I usually have that planned out in advance.  Everyone gets to run at least 3 innings and usually play 3 positions.  Even if the fielders get 3 outs we keep batting until all the runners have a turn.

Sometimes we have a baseball coach giving the runners signs and other times we have penalties for making a running or fielding error.

7 innings take about ½ hour and we get great fielding experience, base running, some conditioning from running the cones or bases and have fun doing it.  For some reason, when you put eggs in the players hands, they remember to slide properly but we still end up with some gooey fingers.  I always bring a role of paper towels.

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From William…
This is a baseball game we use at the end of baseball practice.
3-2-1 baseball base running drills

3-2-1: Place three balls equal distance apart about three fourths of the way from third to home. Have a runner (team 1) and have a fielder on third base and one one 2nd base (team 2).

When you say “go”, the runner leaves home and must reach 2nd base before the fielder fields and throws the balls to the fielder at second base. All throws must be accurate. If the fielders get all balls to second base before the runner gets there, the fielders get 1 point. If the runner gets there first, they get 1 point.

Lots of fun!!

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From Greg…
Here is my baseball drill contribution:

One of the challenges that we find during baseball practice is keeping the kids active and not bored, focusing on doing the things that translate to success during a game and having something competitive to strive for.  With 12 kids or less at any one practice, this can be a challenge.  Here is what we do:

-    We divide the teams into two fair teams of 6 or less players.
-    We put a competitive pitcher to what they will face in the games on the mound and back him with a first base, second, ss and third base man and a coach is the steady catcher.
-    They play 5 out innings and get a point for every ball that makes it into the outfield.  The batter stays on to run the bases and the boys have to go get the live ball and set up cutoffs to keep any balls in the outfield from becoming inside the park homers and of course work towards cutting them down to get their 5 outs. After 5 outs the other baseball team gets a chance.

This puts each of the kids in a defensive position to stop balls from getting out of the outfield.  It puts pressure on the batter to get the ball out of the infield and it gives the baseball coaches plenty of reps to work on batting stance, defensive skills, etc.  Each team figures out that they key to winning is just sitting on the pitch and driving it to the outfield.

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From Joyce…
I have one, but I received this idea from somewhere else. I don’t remember where. It has been working pretty good for me though. It’s called framing the pitch.  It’s for a little more advanced baseball catcher, but the idea is placed on how to catch the pitch to make it appear as a strike, even when it’s not.

If a pitch comes in too high, turn the open part of the glove downwards so you are catching the top of the baseball. This still gives the impression that the “ball” is still within the strike zone. Then if it’s too low, turn your glove upwards to catch the bottom of the ball. It’s the same for the inside pitch, turn the open part of the glove toward the batter to catch the right side of the ball, and if it’s an outside pitch, turn the open part of the glove away from the batter to catch the ball on the left side of the ball.

A lot of times the ump is looking at where the pitched ball is caught to determine if it’s a ball or strike, especially those “close ones”. Catching in this manner gives the appearance of catching the pitch within the strike zone, therefore more strikes are called.

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