Stage 1: wrist flips
This isolates forearm and wrist/10ft/7-10 throws/throwing knee/point throwing side elbow to partner-shoulder height/raise forearm and release ball to partner with flip of wrist.

Stage 2: full arm motion
This isolates throwing arm, upper body and core/10ft/7-10 throws/throwing knee/point glove side shoulder towards partner/full range of motion and follow-thru/bring glove up towards chest.

Stage 3: no step catch
This isolates upper body, core, upper legs/30 ft/7-10 throws/hips & shoulders towards partners/front foot open with toes pointing to partner/back foot blocked off/ full range of motion and follow-thru/bring glove up towards chest.

Stage 4: regular catch
This is full throwing motion/30-60 ft/10-15 throws/proper mechanics/plant foot/move feet to ball.

Stage 5: long catch
Introduce crow hop/60-90 ft/10-15 throws/increase intensity of throws/proper mechanics/balance and accuracy/move feet to ball.

Stage 6: functional catch
Introduces specific fielding position for throwing motion/30 ft/10-15 throws/begin with baseball in glove/get a good 4 seemed grip/proper mechanics.

Stage 7: quick catch
20 ft/10-15 throws/good footwork/catch on throwing side, turning glove shoulder to partner/quick exchange.

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THE RELAY DRILL:
Hit some baseballs deep and some balls shorter, (left and right too) so that the fielders are challenged and the relay player gets a feel for when to go out, stay put, or come deeper into the diamond to properly position themselves for the relay. The baseball coach between home and first hits grounders to the kids at short and the coach between home and third hits grounders to the kids at second base.  The kids field and throw to a receiver by the coach who hit them the ball.

They need to practice knowing when to have a player cut or throw home and they also need to practice the skill of making themselves heard.

You can explain to them that they need to understand the strength of the arm of each outfield player and that they must consider how deep the outfielder is when deciding whether to have the infielder cut or not.  This is also true for the relay person in that they need to understand the strength of the outfielders arm to determine where to position themselves for the relay (and of course when to know that there is no need for a relay) .

My experience has been that most catchers at first are not comfortable with talking (yelling out) loud enough to be heard.  With the catcher by your side, this is a great time for the coach to communicate with the catcher.

Since the kids love to compete, to make this more fun, you can devise a way to keep score for each team.

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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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Line up 5 players about 40 feet apart. Start on the 1st base line and stretching through the infield and out to the left field fence. The guy on the 1st base line starts with the baseball. He throws it to the next guy who turns and throws it to the next guy and so on all the way out to the fence and then the same thing on the way back.

They practice throwing to the glove side of the player and the player catching it pivots and throws it to the glove side of the next player.

This is a fun baseball throwing drill to do as a competition with 2 or 3 teams racing throwing down and back. If they drop the ball they have to throw it back to the last player that caught it before they can proceed.

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Split your team up into two.
1 team of (6) starts on the defense side. Everybody must play in the infield.  No catchers or pitchers, baseball coaches can handle that.  2nd team of (6) starts on the offense.  Let the players make their own line up.

The objective of the game for the Defense:
Have the ball beat the runner home.  The defense must throw the baseball and step on their base in this order, 1st base, 2nd base, 3rd base then home.  If the ball beats the runner then the runner is out.  (Go through the entire line up of 6 players).

The objective of the game for the Offense:
Hit the ball hard then make it home before the ball.  Have the runners do their best to hit the inside corners of each base.  They are always going for home runs in this drill.

This drill works on throwing accuracy for the infielders and base running for the hitters.  It’s a drill of speed but you always have to remind the Defense that the ball will always beat the runners on good accurate throws.  This is a good way to end the last 20-30 minutes of practice.

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Wild Pitch Drill
The objective of this baseball drill is to make the pitchers redirect the catchers in the event of a pass-ball or wild-pitch in which the catchers loses sight of the baseball. It is specially important with a runner on third base. If the catcher knows where the ball is this is not applicable.

Make the catcher bend his knees head down (not looking forward) in front of home plate. The baseball coach should be positioned in front of the catcher with the ball on hand. The pitcher should be on the mound. The coach throws the ball left, right or to the back or on the front. And yells “go!” and retires out of the way.

The first movement should be for the catchers to look directly at the pitcher and he should signal with the right hand (if its to the right), left or down as he is moving to the catcher.

You can do variable as having an actual runner on third or time the drill. This drill could save you a game!

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All players take their position on the field.
One player in the infield is given the baseball and they choose where they want to throw the ball.
The throw must be out of reach of the intended player on purpose making the other position player who should be backing up to get the ball. They then overthrow the ball to another position allowing another backup to take place.

This can go on until the baseball coach stops the drill. This works well with pitchers in determining where they need to be at all times. Everyone on the field stays alert because they never know when they will be called on to backup a throw.

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You begin with 8 balls.
Start at one end of field area with a batter.
The others are at the other end to gather the balls after being hit.  Once he hits the 8 balls, he stays there to help collect the next balls hit and you move to other end and the batter there hits from there.

Teach them to swing through the ball with proper form to get power. You’ll see immediate results with your baseball players.

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Have one baseball coach line up on the base line between home and first.  A second coach lines up on the base line between home and third.

Half the players line up (behind each other) at 2nd base.   Half the players line up (behind each other) at short stop.

The coach between home and first hits grounders to the kids at short and the coach between home and third hits grounders to the kids at second base.  The kids field and throw to a receiver by the coach who hit them the ball.  This can either be a player (catcher) or another coach.  Make sure to hit different types of grounders to challenge the kids.  All hard or all soft grounders are not teaching them as much.

The key is to move quickly (obviously to avoid boredom and to get as many reps as possible for each player).  As soon as the ball is thrown that player must rotate quickly out of the action and go to the back of the line because the coach should be just about ready to hit to the next player.   This drill should last for 5-7 minutes.

After that point we shift all but one player to the outfield behind where they are positioned in the infield (2nd base players go to right field and shortstop players go to left field).  We are now in position to have a relay drill.  It’s important at this time to have a catcher field for the coach so that he can practice aligning the relay fielder and either having him cut and throw or let the player bring the baseball all the way to catcher.  As soon as the relay person makes a play, he goes to the end of the line in the outfield and the player who fielded the fly ball runs in to become the relay player.

Once again, the key is to move this as quickly as possible.  This should also take about 5-7 minutes.

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Position 4 hitters (baseball coaches) on the foul lines, 2 between home and first, 2 between home and third, at equal distances apart from each other and the base they are closest to. Each of these hitters also have a catcher.

Position 4 rows of infielders directly across from the hitters, 2 between first and second, 2 between second and third, they should be at a depth close to the outfield grass.

The hitters hit the baseball directly to the infielder across from them, who then fires the ball to thier respective catchers. After they have fielded the ball and thrown to their catcher they peel off to the outside as to not interfere with their adjacent infielder and return to the back of thier line. Meanwhile the next infielder in each line now is prepared to recieve a ground ball and the baseball drill is repeated.

After each infielder has recieved three ground balls they rotate to the catcher position. When catching the ball the catcher should simulate a first baseman’s stretch.The drill is complete after each infielder has been at catcher.

Example, the hitter (coach) on the first base foul line between home and first who is closer to home hits to the third base infielder.
The hitter on the same first base foul line who is closer to first hits to the short stop infielder.
The hitter on the third base foul line closer to home hits to the first base infielder.
The hitter on the same third base foul line closer to third hits to the second base infielder.

This drill gets in alot of ground ball action with a good throw being required.

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