T-Ball Throwing Drill
Group Knee Position – Throwing & Catching (All Kids) 10 min

Kneeling Throw (1 knee or 2 knees….teaching arm position, grip, and wrist action)  (align by skill level once we learn skill levels a bit more) (** use as many parents as we can for this drill to pair up with kids)

CATCHING – Thumb to thumb; Pinky to Pinky; move left; move right; COVER UP the Ball or Squeeze it (* use 2nd hand to secure AFTER ball hits glove)

THROWING – Grip the ball with 2 or 3 fingers on top for bigger kids; thumb on the bottom; otherwise use 4 fingers or all 5 if small hands

DEMO 1-KNEE Throw and the L-Shape

DEMO the Load & Fire  (Load…spread feet athletic position; FRONT Foot point to target; BACK foot 90 degrees) Elbow or glove pointing to target; ball stretched out behind you toward ground  push off with back foot; foot and arm come forward together as glove hand tucks into your side.
Come over the top like you are hitting the “little man” in front of you on top of the head.

Basketball Drill
One good inexpensive idea that helped many of my players was to soft toss using a half flat mini (or full sized basketball) into the net of our batting cage during our batting practices.

This helped reinforce the idea of hitting\driving through the ball on contact as well as finishing the swing.

Doing this simple drill produced an almost immediate difference in the amount of power my players hit with turning the routine hit balls into hard hit laser shots  they were more difficult for our opponents to handle in the field.

Can You Hit This Drill
My 14 u team was struggling to see the  ball.  We began working with whiffle balls, then went to ping pong balls, then pinto beans, then navy bean and now lentils.

If ya player can see and hit a lentil he can hit a baseball.  Our batting average at the plate doubled after using this drill.

Baseball Warm-Up Drill
I stand at home plate.
The pitchers mound/shortstop players field the ball from me and then throw to first.
The next one in each line is the outfielder backing up the fielder.

Once we’ve done a few minutes of this, I take two players at a time and make them base runners (they alternate) who have to try to get to first before the fielders can throw them out.

I make the base runners start at the backstop fence farthest from first base.
I’ll let the base runners go two or three times each and then cycle through new base runners until everyone has had a turn.  If there are an odd number of players, I’ll be a base runner.

Coaching Throwing Tip
I make them throw 50 good throws in a row (without the ball touching the ground).  I use that to keep their concentration up.  During games as we approach the last few outs, I remind them by saying “this is like throw #45 – keep your focus!”.  This helps them concentrate through the end of the game.

Gloveless Fielding Drill
4 positions (1st, 2nd, S.Stop, and 3rd)
1 coach on the infield grass facing 3rd and short, 1 coach on the infield grass facing 1st and 2nd. The players do not use their gloves for the first half of this drill.

The coach will throw ground balls to the fielders and they must field them without their gloves. This forces them into proper position because without their gloves its actually harder to “side scoop” or “sweep” the ball. It also forces them to use two hands to clamp down on the ball.

First we start out with moderately paced grounders straight at the players and gradually increase the speed and move the ball to both sides to get them to move their feet into proper fielding position.

After we have gone through several times with hard grounders to both sides then we allow them to put on their gloves and we go through it again several times.

Then the coaches back off and use a bat to hit the grounders. This progression should help get the players to think about the correct position when approaching the ball.

I have taught the team to jump into their “Ready Positions”, find and look at the ball, then yell back “READY!”.

This helps keep/get their attention during practice as well as in games.  I have started making somewhat of a mini-game out of it by throwing the ball to the player who had the quickest reaction, and letting them go first in a drill or letting them pick a fun drill or game.

I have even had a few other coaches tell me after games that they could tell it grabbed everyone’s attention (even the crowd’s) and that it was somewhat intimidating, especially when the team was in unison.  Give it a try!  It works and is fun for the kids.

Beach Ball Hitting Drill
Depending on the kids ability will determine how far to put the second tee in front of the main tee.
Take a second tee and place it a few feet in front of the main tee at home plate.
Set a beach ball or something similar on that second tee.
Kids have a great time trying to hit line drives to knock the beach ball off the tee.  You can move the tee around–further out or in.

Kids just love trying to knock beach ball off and at the same time it’s teaching them to concentrate driving the center of the baseball instead of dropping down to hit pop-ups.

Wooden Plank
There is another hitting drill that I use and it is pretty affective on stepping out. I made a wooden plank that sits off the ground 6 inches and the batter stands on it, so if he pulls out his front leg he will no hit because he falls off the plank.

“Coach Says” Drill
This is a twist to one of the popular ideas for “show me the ball”, “invisible bat”, and “coach says”.  I have actually combined these into one exercise/drill and call it the “Coach Says” drill.

I have the children stand in a line facing me.
I show them the techniques for “show me the ball” and “invisible bat”.
Then they have to do what I say, if I say “coach says” (just like a game of simon says).

I have asked them to roar like lions, to jump on one foot, to meow like cats, act like monkeys, etc anything silly really.
Within the mix of all the funny things I will throw in “show me the ball” or “batter stance”, “swing”.  At this time I go down the line and adjust if need be and we keep playing.

The kids LOVED this exercise!!  It put a smile on my face, their faces and the parents as well, all the while we were learning some fundamentals of throwing and hitting the ball.

Glove Side Drill
After my players warm up for a few minutes, we make 2 lines, 8 each.  This is how we teach the kids “glove side”.

We line up from the first base line to the outfield fence, about 20 feet apart and in a straight line. We want them to catch the ball without having to turn around to throw it to the base.  We start at one end and go to the end and back.   Best out of seven, the loser has to run one lap around the bases.

They have a ball.  I split them up where it should be very even.

Running 1 through 4
Two lines down at home plate.
First line in the right-hand batters box.
Second line about 10 feet or so toward 1st base and off the foul line.

When prompted, a runner from each line takes off.

The line in the batters box runs through 1st and breaks down.
The other line rounds 1st and heads into 2nd.

When prompted, now 4 runners take off.

Runner at 1st goes to 3rd (picking up coach).
Runner at 2nd goes home (switching lines after getting home).
2 lines at home still the same.

Now bases are full and we’ll have 5 running with the next two at home.

Ensure the runners switch lines after reaching home, so they will now have different routes/situations to run.

This is also a great conditioning and teamwork drill.  Give it a try.

Pickle
Set up enough stations for 3 kids: 9 players would be 3 stations.
Each station has two orange cones about 30′ apart. Distance would increase if older kids were to play.

I give the ball to one person in each station but the baserunner doesn’t know who has the ball.  Each baseman is on a cone with the baserunner in the middle.

The object is for the baserunner to reach a cone without being tagged.  The baseman will run after the runner and act like he has the ball even if he doesn’t.

If the runner goes in the direction of the baseman with the ball he’ll tag him out.

If he goes in the opposite direction he’ll throw the ball to the other baseman and hopefully he catches it and tags him out, and of course the pickle starts until the runner either makes it to a cone or is tagged out.

All teams that tag out the runner stay on the field until the only one team remains.

Face the Base
I hang the bases on the backstop and use them as a target for the kids to throw to.  It really helps us look as they throw the ball to see what they need to improve on.
At the end of their throwing motion I would have them Face the Base to complete their motion.

Fielding and Hitting Drill
This is a simple drill, but allows players to get a lot of fielding and even some hitting work over a short period of time.
You have 3 players per group; a hitter, a tosser, and a fielder.
The fielder should stand about 30-40 feet away from the hitter.
The hitter chokes up and uses a short swing.
The tosser, kneels and tosses balls to the hitter from the side.

As soon as the hitter hits one ball, he qucikly resets, and the next ball is tossed.  The fielder must field the ball, toss it to the side and quickly get ready for the next one. After all balls have been hit, players switch places.

This drill can be run for 15 minutes or coach can set a certain number of rounds.