Basic baseball skills, such as pitching, fielding, catching and base running, can be taught with young beginner players or seasoned teams alike. By revisiting the basics with your team, the fundamentals will become second nature, freeing your players to focus on more complicated plays, explains Ripkin Baseball, a company with the aim of expanding the sport of baseball throughout the world.
Bucket of Balls
Being able to field a ground ball and smoothly throw it is critical to your team's defensive play. Bucket of Balls helps develop both fielding skills and teamwork between defensive players. Position five players, one at each infield position except pitcher, and place an empty bucket next to third base. Hit a pre-determined number of ground balls one at a time to the infielders. Once the ball has been fielded, it must be thrown three times, ending with the third baseman and placed in the bucket at third base without any errors. Make the drill a competition by playing with two teams of infielders and seeing which can bucket every ball without errors first.
Call the Pitch
Hitting a baseball may be one of the more difficult skills to master in the world of sports. A hitter must focus on proper body position and timing while analyzing the position of a ball speeding towards the home plate. Call the Pitch helps players quickly recognize pitch locations to hit the ball with greater accuracy. Divide the field into three sections with a line of cones and mark three equal sections of home plate with colored tape. With a pitching screen placed close enough for accurate pitching placement, pitch balls to one of the three segments of the plate. The batter should watch the pitch and call out its location before hitting it to the appropriate section of the field. For example, if the ball approaches the hitter over the nearest section of the plate, the batter should call "in" before hitting the ball.
Base Running Relay
Each player on a team will have to run bases at some point in the game, and a simple base-running relay turns an otherwise dull skill into a fun competition. Divide your players into two teams. Have one team line up at first base and the other at third base. The first player in line should have a baseball in hand. At your signal, the first players of each team race around the bases and hand off the ball once they reach their original starting position. The first team with all players around the bases wins.
40 Pitches
40 Pitches helps your pitchers develop accuracy to decrease the total number of balls they throw in a game. Position cones halfway and three-quarters of the way between home plate and the pitching mound and behind the mound. Start your pitcher at the cone closest to the home plate. The pitcher should throw 10 balls to the catcher at reduced speed. If he can successfully complete 10 pitches before throwing four balls, he may move back to the next cone and repeat.
Member Comments