I wanted to make practice fun but still be able to judge arm strength and velocity so I would know who could possibly pitch, make the long throw from 3rd to 1st and so on.

We call this baseball drill–Hitting the Target.
Take 25-30 balls and throw them on the ground at short.  Set up a net at first base to catch the balls and line the players up in 2 lines.  The object is to be the team to get the most balls into the net.

Have the kids run up and grab the baseball with a bare hand and make a good throw to first.  I also used this as a skills practice by not using the gloves which causes the kids to charge the ball and pick it up with the throwing hand and make a good step and throw that was hard and accurate.

It’s a great competition for the kids while teaching them baseball fundamentals and also allowed me to figure out what kids could play certain positions.

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Communicate your expectations to the kids and parents on day 1.  For example–I lay down the law regarding talking while the coach is talking the first time I addressed my team.  If you are direct and draw the line way back the times they cross it are much less frequent.  Let’s face it, they will cross it.

I also ask that parents bring any and all issues to me immediately.  No one is to sit in the stands and criticize.  If there is an issue let’s hear about it. Stay organized. Schedule events as far in advance as possible.

Communicate with the parents by asking them for feedback on practice and ways to handle their child.  Talk about strengths and weaknesses and what we are going to do to correct.

Ask the parents to leave the coaching to the baseball coaches. It’s a long ride home getting unwanted instruction or criticism in the car.  Ask them to communicate specific ideas to the coaches for work in practice.

At the same time a parent may have expertise in an area such as pitching.  In this case the coach may have to leave the pitching instruction to that parent.  Many players have pitching coaches or hitting coaches.  If that is the case, discuss this with the parents and leave it alone.  The parents have invested, in some cases, a lot of money and you shouldn’t mess with it whether you agree or disagree with the instruction.  Expect results, which will determine playing time.

Don’t take yourself too seriously.  Remember why you are here.  Many of the youth players that we coach will never become professional players.  Teach the technique and grow the skills for the next level.  Team success will come but it doesn’t have to come at all costs.

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An oldie but a goody:  Use an old tire and hang it about the height of the kids waist with a backstop or batting cage behind it.  Turn it into a game for the kids that have trouble throwing accurately.  Have them stand back and practice throwing a bucket of balls through the tire. (Remember Nolan Ryan did that for years and look at what it did for him.)

Second:  This is for kids who have trouble keeping their head down and eye on the ball. I took an old pair of youth sun glasses and put a strip of electrical tape at the bottom. This makes them have to keep their head down for batting practice.

Works really good for the T-Ballers.

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The drill requires a pitcher, catcher, shortstop and 3rd baseman.  The remaining players line up on 2nd base and take their turn as a baserunner.  The pitcher pitches the ball and the baserunner takes a big lead.  The catcher then throws the ball back to the pitcher and the baserunner makes a decision to run back to 2nd base or steal 3rd base.  This has taught them how much of a lead they can take without getting thrown out in a game situation.

This baseball drill teaches them to be more aggressive stealing bases in the game and also keeps my pitcher alert to the opposing baserunner’s positioning to steal.

We have had good results in games and my players have become more confident stealing 3rd base.

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Conditioning, throwing accuracy–
To work on throwing and catching skills we break into teams of 4 with pairs facing each other 60 ft apart.

X  – ball
Y – catch
A – fielder
B – runner

X rolls ball to A, at same time B attempts to beat the baseball back to Y.

Be sure B runs to foul ball side of Y. Players rotate from X (jog to next spot) to a to B to Y. We run each player 5 to 10 times through the lines.

If ball is misfielded, errant throw etc., begin back at zero. If we can be outside we move back to fly ball depth and work on tag ups and deeper throws.

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In order to learn the basic fielding positions, I have my players stand on home plate and shout “4-homeplate” then run to first and shout “1-first base” next run to second base and shout “2 second base then run to third base and shout “3 third base” and then run to pitcher’s rubber and point to the rubber and yell “pitcher”.

Now, from the pitching circle, every player turns, points, and shouts out the position I ask for (left, right, catcher, center, shortstop etc.) To finish, starting from the pitching rubber and ending at the pitchers rubber, I instruct them to run to each position and shout out as a group the name of the position as they arrive at that position.

Finally, it is time to hydrate, replenish the water loss.

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1) Fielding- a garage sale table tennis set $1.  Four paddles are good for hands baseball drill with tossed or hit ball indoors or outside.
2) Fielding- “hold the bill of hat in mouth baseball drill”- helps fielders extend hands and see the baseball to glove
3) Catcher- Clock drill catcher stance- squat facing pitcher (pretend).  Coach calls out 3 (1B), 6 (backstop), 9 (3B), 12 (back to pitcher)-helps with footwork (2-5 minutes)
4) Hitting Drill- (thunderstick with broomstick-$3.00)- wiffle golfs balls-baseball coach tosses or two players take turns; watch for proper swing balance and stance-good for hand/eye coordination.

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One thing I love to do is soft toss and hitting off a tee with my teams. However hitting baseballs into the fence can damage the fence, and many communities prohibit soft toss because of this reason. So I made a back stop out of a 5 x 4 cloth tarp that had grommet holes. I put S hooks and clips on the tarp so it can be hung on the fence at any field. The kids hit into the tarp and it reduces the damage to the fence. I use tennis balls and wiffle balls a lot now, and there is no damage to the fence!

Here is a pre-game baseball drill that could also be used as a practice drill.  Get all the boys in big circle with their bats and then with 2 coaches in the middle throw golf ball size whiffles to them.  We have a few orange colored balls in addition to the white ones, and we call the orange balls “money balls.”  The boys love to hit them and really get a smile when they hit a “money ball.”

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I started having the boys run the bases at the end of each practice and timed them to monitor their progress.  It seems like a very small thing, but the boys always looked forward to trying to beat their previous time, and they improved a lot over the course of the season.  I’m convinced that this was responsible for turning many would-be singles into doubles, and doubles into triples, and even a couple of ITP homers.  It’s certainly not a revolutionary idea, but has been very effective with our younger players and a great way to close out a baseball practice.

We  also do a “base race” where we split into two teams as fairly as possible and have one group start at 2b, the other at home, and then have them run a relay around the base path. It takes a few times to get the teams selected so as to keep it close, but once we got it right the race outcomes were pretty even.

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Stop n Go base running drill
Objective: to get the kids to listen to the baseball coach’s voice when they are running the bases.

- Have them all start at home plate.  When you say “Go” they run around the bases.  Inevitably, the kids get spread out as some are faster than others.  When you say “Stop”, they have to get to the closest bases.  It usually works that the kids get spread out.  When kids are in the middle and they hear “Stop” they have to choose which base to go to or go back to.

- It has been working well.

- I also try and get a parent to stand at each base on the outside of the base.  They get the kids to give them a high five as they pass the base. This gets the kids used to the idea of touching each base.

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