Simple Baseball Drills

A great training method that I’ve used is cutting out a picture from the sports page, photo copy it and distribute it to the players. Sometimes when us coaches talk too much the kid’s eyes glaze over and a picture is worth a thousand words.

Here’s a batter in perfect position:

Photo credit: Gateman

I love the line in his pants. There’s a straight line from his left knee to his ear and he’s up on his toe on his back foot. Head is down and arm’s are fully extended. What a powerful swing! And, he’s completely balanced over both feet. He probably only took a 6 to 8 inch stride. Hopefully, the kids take home the picture and dream of hitting a line drive on Saturday!

I always hear on TV that most ballplayers don’t know [tag]how to bunt[/tag]. How can that be? I had a friend, who was a great motivator and coach, who loved to bunt in critical situations. Because of him, I’ve always taught bunting as a strategy.

Now this is how I like to teach bunting:

Have your kids move up in the box, but don’t make it so obvious that the catcher picks up on it. The reason for moving up in the box is so they have a better chance of bunting the ball fair. If they’re way back in the box the ball has more of a chance of going foul. Don’t square around! I hate to tell kids what not to do because then they’re thinking of what I said and end up doing it! Telling other coaches what not to do is alright. I have the kids pivot on their toes, keeping the knees bent (athletic position) and face the pitcher with their upper body. They will look like they’re running towards the pitcher when in the correct position.

The rules for holding and moving the bat are:

1. Move both hands up the barrel for better control, but keep them down far enough so they don’t get hit. Hands should be spread apart about 5 inches and below the label.
2. Let the bat “give” with the pitch, almost like catching the ball with the bat.
3. Only move the bat down to the ball, if they move it up they will pop up the pitch.
4. Get the ball down one of the lines before running.

If you find there’s a kid that bunts well then you can teach him/her [tag]how to bunt for a base hit[/tag]. The cool thing is, the technique is the same. They just have to wait longer so they can surprise the infield.

I remember trying to learn to catch a ground ball.  The coach would yell at me to stay down.  How could I do that?  I was afraid of getting hit in the face.  After I got the “stay down” thing I started turning my head because that’s how I was able to stay down in the first place.  Then the coach said, “Your head is wider when you turn it, keep your eye on the ball and your head is narrower and you can see where the ball goes.”  All things that time and getting hit a thousand grounds ball would correct.

That takes me to the main point about all practice, repetition.  You can go over the basics as often as you like, but without the grounders, you might as well fly kites.   Be prepared to practice a lot!

So you’re ready to practice and you want to know the proper form to field a ground ball.  An easy drill that I found useful is the Standing Still drill.  The kids line up facing you, each with a ball placed about 3 to 4 feet in front of them.  They start in the ready position, bend at the knees and waist, butt down, hands out in front of them.  On your call, they take a short step (about 1 foot) towards the ball with their glove hand foot (that’s right, right handed throwing kids would step forward with their left foot) and a shorter step with their throwing hand foot (about 6 inches).  They then bend down and pick the ball up with their throwing hand and glove at the same time.  They then turn and fake a throw.  The shorter step with the throwing hand foot puts them at an angle, which makes it easier to turn their body when they come up to throw.

This is a great drill for teaching kids to keep their bodies down.  The lower the better.

This is just a test, if it had been a real emergency, you would have been advised to head for cover!

Soft toss is one of the best methods of teaching young players how to properly swing the bat.  I found a great resource for performing the proper soft toss.  You should start this drill with a “T” so the ball is not the main focus of the drill.

1. The batter should be in position and ready to hit the ball.
2. Have them “load the hands” by moving them straight back about 4 to 6 inches.
3. The batter takes a small step with their lead foot.
4. The heal of the back foot should be turned out.
5. The batter will swing on your command.

The coach needs to call out each step using a one word command.  This drill is a little choppy in the beginning, but after a few repititions, you both will get the hang of it.  We used this drill before a game when the batting cage had a backlog of hitters.  It reminded kids of the process of swinging a bat.  We would start out saying the commands and then the last few swings would be watching them put everything together.  Maybe using a “ready…swing”, while watching the hands moving back, the small lead foot step and the back heal turn.

It’s still a little early to think about throwing a ball, but it’ll be January before you know it! And if you’re somewhat serious about starting early, you could find a gym and start throwing indoors.

Throwing correctly is one of the most important things to teach kids. Turning your body and pointing at your target with your glove hand will get them off to a good start.

A good drill that keeps things moving is “Rapid Fire”. Have the kids line up to the side about 30 feet away. Start out slow. Have each kid jump out from the line and throw them the ball. They should execute the correct turn, point and fire back to you and return to the end of the line. The next kid jumps out and so on. You can really keep things moving with some rapid throws. Mix in some ground balls and fly balls and you’ve got them warm and loose. You can back up a little as you go as well, making the throws longer. Stress the fundamentals of a good form and accuracy. I would end the drill by moving all the way in and “underhanding” it like an infielder, sometimes throwing it behind our backs to mix in some fun.

Kids need to throw more and they need to make longer throws. This develops arm strength and accuracy.

Remember, keep it quick and fun, and teach them something.

It’s time for me to give back to baseball. I’ve been lucky enough to have been coached by some great people. And now this blog is my small way to not only put on paper what I know about the game but also have anyone (and everyone) contribute.

I have been playing organized (and unorganized) baseball since I was 8 years old. That’s 46 years, and this summer I played in a “30 and older” league. I’m lucky that I can still play and I hope to play next summer as well.

I coached baseball for 15 years, taking my kids through the little and senior leagues. I loved it. The one thing that I wish was out there was some good information on drills and practice tips. That’s what this blog is for. It’s also for any topic that our contributors want to talk about as long as it’s about baseball.

So welcome and I hope you find what you’re looking for or contribute so someone else gains.

If you Google “baseball drills” you get a couple hundred thousand results.  My hope is to be able to provide reliable information, whether that be in the form of drills or reviews of products I’ve found to be useful, online or otherwise.

I would also like to recommend other online baseball drill sites.  My goal is to provide as much information to the coaching community as possible.  I would hope that if coaches find the information useful they will come back to see what’s new and exciting.

One of my goals is that other coaches will post their best drills as well.  And I want this site to be about more than just drills.  From playing time to handling disappointment on the field, I want as much information as possible.  I look at youth baseball as one of the major influences on a young person’s life.  Sports relates to life, it teaches us how to win and how to lose.