The game of baseball requires players to catch, hit, run and throw. And baseball teams need to work cohesively. A coach should use drills to develop players' individual skills and the team's ability to work together effectively. Choose from a variety of drills to achieve these objectives.
Ground-ball, Line-drive, Fly-ball Drill
All baseball players must know how to catch ground balls, line drives and fly balls properly. To teach these skills, divide your players into groups and assign one coach to each group. Spread the groups out so they don't interfere with each other. The coach for each group stands about 90 feet from his players and throws a ground ball, line drive or fly ball to one player at a time. The players must react appropriately, catch the ball and throw it back to the coach.
Short-toss Batting Drill
The short-toss batting drill helps a player improve her or his swing. A coach should sit on a chair behind a screen about 30 feet in front of home plate so he can easily throw balls into the strike zone. The coach throws 10 balls to each batter in various parts of the strike zone. The batter tries to hit a hard line drive on each pitch.
Base-running Scrimmage Drill
The base-running scrimmage drill is designed to improve players' base-running abilities, but also to teach defensive players how to work together effectively. Assign a player to each defensive position; the rest of the players form a line near home plate as base-runners. Randomly hit balls to all areas of the field and have the base-runners and fielders react accordingly. Praise your players when they react properly and provide constructive feedback when they make mistakes.
Crow-hop Throwing Drill
A crow hop is a way for players to build momentum so they can throw the ball as hard as possible. This drill teaches them to throw properly off a crow hop. Tell your players to find a partner and have them line up about 90 feet away from each other; give each group one ball. The player with the ball faces his partner, steps forward with his left foot, hops forward onto his right foot, positions his arms to throw, steps again with his left foot, and finally throws the ball to his partner. A left-handed thrower starts by stepping forward with his right foot instead of his left. Have the groups of partners gradually spread apart to increase throwing distances.
Cutoffs and Relays Drill
When an opposing batter hits a ball into the outfield, your defense must work cohesively to get the ball back to the infield as quickly as possible so the runner cannot take extra bases. If the ball is hit deep into the outfield, a fielder must get the ball and throw it to a cutoff man---an infielder who has moved into the outfield. The cut-off man must then relay the ball to the appropriate base. Coordinating this process requires practice. For the cutoffs and relays drill, randomly hit balls to all areas of the outfield and tell your fielders to react accordingly. When a player makes a mistake, point it out and hit the ball to the same area again right away to give the fielder a chance to correct the error.
References
- "The Baseball Drill Book"; Bob Bennett; 2004
- "The Baseball Coaching Bible"; Jerry Kindall and John Winkin; 1999
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