More than some other sports, baseball requires a wide range of specific skills. You can begin developing these skills in young and beginning players with simple drills. Vary the drills you run to keep the players interested, and try to alternate individual and group drills.
Step Away and Throw
This drill helps beginning players to learn how to throw from different distances. Divide the team into two lines facing each other, and instruct the players to stand only a few feet apart to start. Have the players throw and catch from this short distance for a few minutes, and then instruct both lines to step back one pace from each other. Continue practicing throwing and catching from each new distance until the lines are as far apart as the players can throw.
Kneeling Toss
This drill helps young players learn to follow through during a throw. Have your players get on one knee to throw the ball. Instruct them to focus on rotating their arms in a circular path, following through with the throwing arm and pulling the glove hand toward the armpit. The throwing arm should follow through beyond the front knee.
Standing in Cement
Use this drill in sequence with the kneeling toss drill. Tell your players to imagine that they are standing in cement, and cannot move their feet. Then ask them to throw the ball while focusing on the arm and torso rotation, to follow through with the throwing arm.
Batting Practice With Variable Strike Count
Before you begin this drill, prepare the players with a set of instructions about how to approach different strike counts, as this drill aims to help your players develop a batting strategy. Have players take turns at bat, for a maximum of 10 pitches each. Before each pitch, give the batter a specific strike count. The player will then lose some of his remaining pitches if he makes certain mistakes according to the count --- what strategy one should follow when, say, the count is three balls and two strikes. For example, if a player swings at a pitch well outside the strike zone or does not swing at clear strikes, he loses some of his remaining pitches. You can use your judgment to determine the severity of the mistake according to the count.
Relay Race for Base Running
Divide your team into two groups. Instruct one group to form a line at home plate, the other to form a line at second base. When you call "Start," the first player in each line should begin running with a ball in her hand. When she completes her run around the bases, she passes the ball to the next player in line. When all the players on one team have completed the base runs, that team wins.
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