Baseball coaches try to teach and improve players' skills in games and practice sessions. While they want their players to improve and become more productive, they also want to help teach their players to think through every situation they may face in a game. Coaches can do that by talking to their team and using a variety of drills at practice.
Aggressive Base Running
You can't always control your team's hitting and production. That part of the game is often impacted by your opponent's starting pitching. But a good coach will always teach his players to be aggressive base runners. By studying the opposing pitcher and catcher, a base runner can put himself in a position to get a good jump and steal bases. To facilitate this, have your base runner get a four-step lead and then practice accelerating, as he would on a steal, and sliding into second base. Have each player make sure those first steps are quick, so he can reach maximum acceleration. The slide into second should be one that gets the player to the base where he avoids the tag of the fielder.
Opposite-Field Drill
The most effective hitters often go with the pitch and don't try to pull everything they see when they come up to the plate. In this drill, have the batting-practice pitcher throw the ball over the outside portion of the plate. You can also use a pitching machine. The idea is for the right-handed hitter to drive the ball to right field and the left-handed hitter to hit the ball to left field. A good hitter should hit hard line drives to the opposite field on 7 of 10 pitches. This will help the hitter go with the pitch in a game.
Fielding Drills
To keep your team's defense sharp, work the three-ball fielding drills to all your fielders. For the infielders, hit three ground balls. On the first grounder, the fielder will throw to first base. On the second, have the fielder throw to second base to start a double play. On the third, the fielder throws home to cut off the runner at the plate. Hit two fly balls and one line-drive base hit to each of the outfielders. On the first fly ball, have the outfielder drift back to catch a deep fly. On the second, have him run in to catch a pop-up. On the line-drive single, have the outfielder catch the ball on the hop and then fire a strike to home plate to cut off the base runner. This drill will keep your fielders prepared prior to a game.
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