Double Tees
For the first drill I use 2 tees. Put a ball on a tee at home plate in the normal hitting position. Then go ten feet toward the mound and set up another tee with a ball on top. The players hit off the tee at the plate, trying to knock the ball off the tee at the mound.This teaches them to hit the center core of the baseball. Each player gets ten swings.

Foam Golf Ball Drill
We use yellow hard foam golf ball for a hitting station in practice. They can be purchased at any large retail store, and the come in a bag of 24. Down on one knee out in front of the batter I bounce the ball into the “contact zone.” The smaller ball makes batter concentrate on the ball and teaches a quick, compact swing.

Optional: To increase difficulty replace bat with a piece of 1” or 1 ½” PVC bat length capped on both ends. Create several PVC bats and experiment with filling them with various materials to add weight.

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One of the baseball drills I run is a quad toss.  You take four players and set them into a cube formation roughly 10 feet apart.  One of the guys rolls a grounder to the guy on his left who picks it up and flips it to the next guy like you are practicing for a double play.

Works on pulling the glove back and good food work.  Then I will have them go to the right where they practice backhanded flips.  Same thin–practicing on foot work and the back hand as they go.  Now, if they get to feeling good about themselves add another ball which causes the pace on it’s own to quicken up.

Another drill- I have my players do soft-toss with TWO balls.  They toss both baseballs at the same time and say “top” or “bottom”.  The hitter then has to react quickly and hit the ball called.

This is a good easy transition from plain soft-toss.  Easy to learn, as it doesn’t really change drills from soft-toss, and it works on quick reflexes and great hand-eye coordination.

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This baseball drill will show kids if they have a short compact swing/ or a long, slow, sweeping swing.

To encourage kids to utilize a short, compact, quick swing have them stand in their normal batting stance with their back foot(right foot for right handed batters, etc) up against a fence, wall, dugout etc.

Have them take a normal swing and if their hands drop the bat in a horizontal position before swinging (as most youth hitters do) they will drag the bat across the fence.

If they keep the bat more upright(near 45degrees), dissecting the back of their helmet and swing the hands quickly down through the zone then they will not hit the fence/wall etc.  Great instant feedback for the kids!!!

They’ll be on their way to catching up with that fastball!

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You will need a stopwatch for the first drill and four cones.
Set the four cones in a square shape about 15 feet apart.  Put the outfielder in the middle of the four cones.
Place a fielder about 20 to 40 yards away from the cones (depending on age level you’re coaching).
The coach throws a “fly ball” to the outfielder (it needs to be accurately done to land within the artificial square).

Start the stopwatch when the baseball hits the glove of the outfielder.  Stop the time when the ball hits the glove of the cut-off man.  Outfielders will enjoy trying to beat their own time as well as those of others.

You can coach curl hop, catching position, off-hand position, etc….

Another baseball drill that is good for outfield is this one for fielding ground balls.

Have your players charge all ground balls at full speed until about 15 feet from the ball, then slow charge so that they will have full control of their body and can release the ball in 1 ½ steps.

They need to keep their seat down when fielding ground balls. Keep their glove close to the ground. It is easier to bring the glove up than to get it down.  Play all ground balls in front of the body and make sure the ball does not get past you.

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Some are scared of the baseball, some are working on timing, some are learning what is in the strike zone, some swing just to swing, etc. This baseball drill helps them feel more comfortable at the plate.

The first time I use this baseball drill with a team I do it without telling them my purpose until I can prove my point later to them in the drill.

Start by playing normal catch and try to aim the ball at their partners chest.  Then they move down to aiming for the belt buckle area and then finally the knees.To catch the ball they should be banding down.

Once they are thinking about the catching portion and aim of the throwing, I have them turn as though they are standing in a near batting stance when it is their turn to catch the ball.  They put their glove hand across their chest and their throwing hand behind their back.  They try to catch the ball thrown across the plate.  They are only allowed to move their front foot AND the only direction they can move it is toward the thrower or forward (towards the plate). I still have not used language to them to show them this is actually a batting drill.

Once they are doing well with that I replace the glove with the bat and ask them what is the difference between a bat and a glove.  They still need to see it, time it, and adjust to make the play whether it is a catch or a hit.

This baseball drill seems to remedy many of those problems and if a recurring problem occurs it stands out and helps narrow down what they more specific issue might be.

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Recently I purchased a large plastic ball ( 8-9″) that claims to bounce 75 feet at a large local sports store. My thought was I could motivate the kids a bit more for their efforts in practice and use the ball for a fifteen minute quick game (with coaches) at the end of baseball practice.

I let them touch and see the ball at the beginning, knowing what may happen after a disciplined practice. I believed the kids would gain confidence by swinging at a larger ball, hitting farther than usual, all while I make sure they are working their swing. Making sure, grip, stance, trigger and swing plane follow through. A complete success, the kids can’t wait to play again.

I frequently have problems with the players not stepping straight while we are trying to get them hit up the middle.  They always want to step out to third base.

I got a foam tube swimming float and placed it behind their feet (so if they step out and step on it they won’t trip) to teach them to step out straight towards the pitcher.

Just a small idea to help them learn to step out straight and not out towards third base.

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A strength training tip I got from a colleague, and my players love, involves the use of a batting tee, but instead of using baseballs to hit, we use half inflated basketballs.

The idea is to hit these basketballs as hard as you can with good form of course. I urge my players to try hitting the basketballs over the infield which is not as easy as it sounds.  This baseball drill will increase their batting speed and power tremendously.

Another baseball drill I have is to use plastic golf balls and stand behind the batter and toss the balls over their shoulder. They have to pick up the ball as it comes over the shoulder and make good contact with the ball.

When coaching 3rd to 5th graders, we have a “repair” drill when a guy gets beaned.  It is only natural for players of that age to start bailing out afterwords.  So it’s back to bean bags, then tennis balls then baseballs.  Bean bags with coach pitch, tennis with kid pitch and baseballs into the net.  Then step them up and see how they do.

Most times, we cure fear with one repair drill!

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It is a baseball drill that is effective for me and hopefully for you as well. I also believe that my 12-13 year old players should be having fun, and more importantly loving baseball; it is something they should possess.

One of the things that I like to do after we are done with stretching and a few warm-up drills I have the boys break up into groups of approximately 6-8.  They start out by doing some standard bunting pepper with a bat and baseball.  We work on form and technique as well as placement and focus.  We rotate so everyone has had a turn.

Then we start to ratchet up the fun by either changing out the bat for a broom stick, the ball for a whiffle golf ball, running or calisthenics for mistakes or (usually) a combination of any of those.

The boys really start to laugh and have fun with this all at the same time as improving their technique, being competitive without it being a pressure cooker and building team chemistry.  We go on to do 2 or 3 more of this type of baseball drill and end it with a low pressure bp/infield rotation.

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Line up half of the team 30 to 40 ft apart from the other half of the team.
Give them one baseball and tell them to throw to the other side for three throws.
As soon as the last throw is thrown, the player yells out and the other player jumps in and vice versa for the other side.
All throws must be quick, hard and accurate.
Then call two and they go with two throws and sometimes one.

This drill has helped them with their throwing and catching and getting the ball out of the glove quickly. We usually do this for 5 minutes and the kids like the drill.

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Each team of 4 is competing against each other.
We have each hitting team clear the bases after 3 outs.
Each hitting team is done after 6 outs or after scoring 5 runs, whichever comes first.
The winning hitting team is rewarded with a single dip ice cream cone @ our local ice cream shop.

This baseball drill gets the competitive juices flowing, especially on defense when the fielding teams have to work together to get the hitting team out.  This also is helpful because there is less standing around as compared to a more traditional 2 team scrimmage format.

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