Each winter I do a 10 to 15 page “drill book” for my boys. Each page has a baseball field drawn on it with 10 players in their normal pre pitch positions (4th grade boys…so we get to have 10 fielders).  On the back of the page I list all 10 fielders.

I then give the boys a situation–i.e. runners on first and second, one out, ball hit through the gap between first and second.

The boys have to diagram where each baseball player goes on the baseball play and also writes it down on the back next to each position.

This book is then used for our first baseball practice of the season which is a classroom practice with a white board.  We do this before our league lets us “officially” begin field practices. We use this baseball drill book at every practice for situation drills.

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Speed Kills–a Base Stealing Drill
1) Foot is outside the base along the side nearest the outfield at 1st base and 2nd base and on the foul line at 3rd base–not placed on the bag or pushing against it or resting in front of the bag toward the next advancing base.
2) The outside bag take off gives a couple of milli-seconds head start toward a safe steal.

It is nearly impossible to be called for leaving early because your entire foot is resting against the bag as you take off and come forward.  Your foot at some point is still in contact with the bag and with proper technique you are 3 feet closer to being safe and still have contact with the bag.

With break away bases or softy bags and the best cleat designs ever the push off to steal is as old as wood bats–way out dated and even leads to frequent injury and season ending ankle damage or worse.

Give this new idea a try and you and your baseball team will  be amazed  and proud at the results.

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The baseball drill goes like this:  2 baseball coaches- 1 at home and 1 at 2nd base.  Half of the kids make a line at 3rd and the other half at first.  Each coach has a bucket next to them. The first player at 3rd base moves out to shortstop position and gets a ball hit to him from the coach at home.  After he fields the baseball, he runs behind the coach hitting the balls at 2nd and drops his ball into the bucket, and continuing to run to the end of the line at first.

Simultaneously, the coach at 2nd is hittng the balls to the first person in line at first base who is standing between 1st home.  After he fields the ball, he drops it in the bucket behind home and gets into the line at third.  Each coach grabs the balls from the buckets.

Another twist is to have someone catching for each coach with each player fielding a ball, throwing it back to the spot it was hit from.

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We have two catchers so we start with one of them behind the plate and everyone else in the third base coach’s box and one other player on first base.  Our second catcher is the last person in line at third base.  The first fielder takes the third base position and fields a ground ball throwing the [baseball to first base and then sprints to second base while the player at first throws home.  The catcher catches the ball and throws down to second base to the player who was just playing third base.  The ball is then thrown back to first and then home.

The person at first base runs behind the field and gets at the end of the line at third base.  The player at second now runs to first and becomes the first baseman for the next fielder.  The next player in line now takes the third base position and the baseball drill is repeated.

We go all the way through the order until our second catcher (last in line) occupies first base.  After the last throw home the second catcher takes the place of the first catcher and goes through the order.

This can be done very quickly and everyone gets an opportunity to experience situations at all three bases.  It’s also a great drill for figuring out positional strengths in young teams.

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Players form 2 equal lines, facing first base.
Line ‘A’ beginning in the right batters box, and Line ‘B’ about 15′ up and to the right of the first base line.

On my ‘Go’ command, the first runner in each line runs, ‘A’ to first, and ‘B’ through first and on to second.  Once the first two runners are on base, my commands become, “Primary”, “Secondary”, and then either “Go” or “Back”.  On “Go”, the runner on second scores, the runner on first ends up at third, B ends up on second and A on first.

As a runner scores, they go to the rear of the opposite line from where they started that lap.  I run this baseball drill for about 15 minutes or more, until I’m satisfied that they’re giving maximum effort. Players caught dogging it are given extra laps around the complex.

Things to focus on in doing this baseball drill:

1. Proper rounding of bases, especially first to second;
2. Proper primary and secondary leads, and no crossing over steps;
3. Reaction time returning to base or breaking for the next;
4. Speed and endurance.

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• Have a catcher straddle home plate facing first base.
• First baseman straddles 1st base facing the catcher.
• Second baseman straddles 2nd base facing first.
• Third baseman straddle 3rd facing second base.
• Let the short stop and second baseman alternate at second base.
• Catcher will throw the baseball to first, first throws second, second throws to third, and third throws to home.

Repeat several times around the bases and then reverse by going from catcher to third, third to second, second to first, and first to home. Also repeat this direction several times.

This is a good every practice baseball drill for ball handling, and quick foot speed as they have to spin and throw to next base.

Idea is for the players to not let the baseball touch the ground. The baseball coaches will definitely see the improvement as their ball season starts and the ball handling will be even better by the end of season.

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Players caught dogging it are given extra laps around the complex.  The things to focus on in doing the drill:  proper rounding of bases, especially first to second;  proper primary and secondary leads, and no crossing over steps; reaction time returning to base or breaking for the next; speed and endurance.

Players form 2 equal lines, facing first base.
Line ‘A’ beginning in the right batters box.
Line ‘B’ about 15′ up and to the right of the first base line.

On my ‘Go’ command, the first runner in each line runs, ‘A’ to first, and ‘B’ through first and on to second.  Once the first two runners are on base, my commands become, “Primary”, “Secondary”, and then either “Go” or “Back”.  On “Go”, the runner on second scores, the runner on first ends up at third, B ends up on second and A on first.  As a runner scores, they go to the rear of the opposite line from where they started the lap.   I end 95% of baseball practices with this drill.

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Directions:  This baseball drill uses three tossers and three shaggers.  Each tosser is near a base and has a shagger, who is at the base.  The drill has one or more outfielders at each of th  three outfield defensive positions.  The outfielders are pulled up in order to get a force play at a base.
The tosser throws or hits a ground ball to the outfielder, who fields the ball and quickly throws it to the respective shagger.

V Throwing Drill
Purpose:  To improve the infielders’ throwing accuracy.

Set-Up:  The catcher, first baseman, and third baseman are at their respective bases while the second baseman and SWS are at their defensive positions.

The baseball should be thrown continuously in the following sequence:  C to 1st to 3rd to 2nd (Covering bag) to C to SS (covering 2nd), SS to 3rd then back to C.

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I call the first baseball drill the “egg drill”. I will toss raw eggs underhand to my infielders 10-15 feet away. They must catch it using soft hands and “sweeping” it towards their body, like an infielder would corral a ball to his midsection before throwing it.

Teaches soft hands quicker than any other drill Ive used!

For the next drill, the boys form 2 lines.
A baseball is placed at the foot of each line. Two more baseballs are placed approximately 40′ away from them. (This is all on grass). The boys are then given instructions on the drill:
Pickup baseball with left hand, run karioke to the second ball, pop-up slide, drop first ball, pickup second ball with right hand, full sprint back, full slide, hand ball to teammate. You can mix up the variations to make it interesting and to see who is paying attention and how they are sliding. As each boy completes his turn, he kneels until everyone has had their turn.

My boys look forward to these at the end of baseball practice. It gets their competitive juices flowing and they all root their teammates on.

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Basically the hitter stands in the batter’s box or backed up to a fence and the pitcher, usually the baseball coach, stands about 20 feet away.  The batter stands like he would be hitting, however the catch is he must turn his head away from the pitcher, like back towards the catcher.  The ball is thrown, pitched underhand for the small kids, and then the coach  yells “ball” and the batter must turn his head back toward the pitcher, pick up the baseball and then try to hit it.

This tends to make the batter focus more on picking up the ball, and improves bat speed as well.  I usually start with whiffle balls or rubber or soft balls.  Also the distance can get shorter between the pitcher and batter as the hitter gets better.

Another thing I use for batting practice is to use two tees one behind the other. The front tee holds the ball the rear tee is set slightly lower with no ball. Player needs to swing through to hit ball without hitting rear tee. Object is to stop young batters swinging up under the ball.

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