When coaching a Little League team, practice time can be more vital to a young player's development than the games. During practice, players can get involved in exercises and techniques that will help them improve and become better ball players. Keep the players' attention throughout the drill, so keep the drills quick and fast moving.
Batting Tee Drill
Once players get into Little League and move past T-ball, they might roll their eyes at the suggestion of hitting the ball off of a batting tee. If you have any of those reactions on your team, tell them Major League Baseball players hit off of a batting tee. Have each player start off by taking 10 swings off of a batting tee. The key is to hit the back and middle portion of the ball. It will help get a player to focus his eyes on the target and that will translate into good habits in a game. After hitting the ball off the batting tee, players can take five swings with a basketball on the tee. This drill will help increase a player's power. The key is to snap their wrists at impact with the ball and then follow through all the way. Hitting the heavy basketball will translate into greater explosiveness and distance when the player hits the baseball squarely in a game.
Baserunning Relay
Line up half your players at second base and the other half at home plate. Give the first player in line a baseball. On your signal, both players will take off as fast as they can for a run around the bases. When they come back to the starting point, they will hand the ball off to the next player in line. The team that has all its players run the bases fastest wins the drill. However, no player can drop the baseball. If a player misses a base, he must go back and retouch it. This will teach players to run the bases correctly, hitting the inside corner of the base in stride.
Infield Drill
In order to help your team field the baseball correctly, hit infield grounders to your fielders. Specifically, hit three ground balls to each infielder. On the first ball, have the infielder throw to first base. On the second ball, have the infielder throw to second base to start the double play. On the third ball, have the fielder throw home as if he were cutting off a run at the plate. After each fielder has gone once, hit another round of ground balls. Pick up the pace by hitting harder grounders so the players can improve their fielding skills as their confidence increases.
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