Baseball practice should be fast-paced and competitive. In order to improve at the game, players should be given tasks in practice that will come into play during games. Competitive drills will not only accelerate improvement, but they will demonstrate to coaches and managers which players have the inner fire that may come to the surface when the game is on the line.
Throwing Relay
Line up six players on the third base line and space them evenly between home plate and the left field foul pole. Do the same thing with your other six players down the right field line. Give a baseball to the players standing at home plate. On your whistle, the relay begins. The first player will throw to the second player, the second player will throw to the third and the relay continues until the last player has caught the ball at the foul pole. Then the process reverses and the throw must eventually come back to the player at home plate. The team that can do this first without making a poor throw or a drop wins the relay. If the ball hits the ground at any point, the relay team must start over.
Making Plays
Position your players at all the positions. In order to improve their defensive skills, hit ground balls and pop ups to all the fielders. Each player will get three balls to make plays. Infielders must throw to first on the first ground ball, second on the second ground ball and home on the third ground ball. The pitcher is included with the infielders. Outfielders will get fly balls or line drives. They must throw to second on the first ball, third on the second and home on the third. The catcher will get two bunts to field as well as one foul pop up.
Five Swings
Each batter will get five swings in the batting cage. The idea is to hit the ball hard on each of your swings. A ground ball gets one point, a pop-up gets one point, a line drive gets two points and a ball over the fence gets three points. A swing and a miss gets no points. On the last swing, the batter runs the play out as if it were a game. A single gets one point, a double is two points, a triple is three and a home run is four points. The player with the most points wins.
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