Here are two youth baseball drills that works well with younger kids. The first one is called “Knock the rocks” and works on throwing and fielding. The second one, Back Hand Toss, works on speed and accuracy.
Both of these will become favorites and requested by your players–competitive, fast-paced and fun!
Knock the Rocks
You take a used Soda 2 liter bottle, and fill the bottom with stones/rocks.
Put it on a bucket or something not high off the ground. The stones are so the bottle doesn’t blow off if it is windy.
Form 2 lines, roll grounders to each line separately. They field and then try and “Knock the rocks” off the bucket throwing the ball.
You play to a chosen number, and the winning team gets a prize. It helps with both fielding and throwing, and makes it a fun competition.
Back Hand Toss
Here’s an idea for working on backhand tosses for starting double plays.
- Have the kids pair up, about 10 feet apart, with each kid facing in the opposite direction (a righty/lefty pair would face the same direction).
- Each kid tosses the ball backhand to his partner, aiming for his glove.
- This drill is about speed, so they should be working to get the ball out of their glove quickly and the toss should be firm.
- Each pair can compete to see how many clean tosses/catches they can make in row. When a ball is dropped, that pair is out.
Next step… check out our complete collection of youth baseball drills, designed for building fundamental skills in kids 13 and under.