With the Baseball Season coming up, its important to sharpen up. Hitting and fielding regularly will help you to clean up your game and prepare you for the season ahead of you Doing different drills that specialize in certain things can help you become the best Baseball player you can be I'm going to run you through a few drills that I myself have used that have improved my game.
Follow The t-ball drills, This is a great drill to get your team to follower their throws. This one is good for all ages. First, have a 1 kid at all 4 bases and all the rest at shortstop. You start by hitting the ball from home plate to shortstop as the player currently at shortstop fields the ball. After they field it, they will then throw it to first and follow their throw. The first basemen will catch the ball, step on the base, and then throw the ball to second. They will then follow their throw and run to the second base position. The Shortstop that first fielded the ball should now be at first base, waiting for the next throw. The person who was at second and just caught the throw will lay down a fake tag and then throw the ball to 3rd base and follow them through.
The person at third base will catch the ball, lay down a fake tag, then throw the ball home. He will then follow his throw to home plate. The person at home will catch the ball and right as he does that, the Coach should hit another ball to short to keep the cycle going. The person at home who caught the ball will then run around and get back in line at shortstop. This is a great drill to warm up. Your kids get a nice jog in, warm up their arms, practice playing multiple positions, and learn to follow their throws.
The one Handed Hitting drill is great for hitting and really helps you keep your hands going through the ball. This is a good one for kids in kid pitch. You start by getting in soft toss position like you were going to throw your batter soft toss from the side. Have your batter choke up on the bat almost to where their hand is off the tape. Have them hold their bat with their top hand (right for lefties, left for righties) toss the ball up right in front of them and have them hit the ball with their bat. They may not succeed the first few time which will tell front of them and have them hit the ball with their bat. They may not succeed the first few time which will tell you that their dropping their hands. A good way to fix that is to have them feel like their slamming their elbow into a brick wall, to really turn it, and to have them really rotate their hips explosively. This drill will help your hitter to be quick to the ball and not come under it and hit pop flies. You can also have them do this with their other hand to but its not as effective as with their top hand. Mdfallbaseball has some awesome drills
This isn't really a drill as much as it is a game but it helps their fielding tremendously. You have them all line up on the fall line single file and stand in front of them to where the stretched far out. You should have a bat and a ball. Have one of the players throw you the ball lightly and you will bunt it softish back at them. Have them work on keeping the ball out front and fielding the ball smoothly. If they field the ball, they pick it up and toss it back to you If they mess up, the out of the game and go stand somewhere else. You repeat this cycle until one player remains who is your winner. This game is great with younger kids as well as older kids. They get into the game and have a blast and alot will be working on their fielding their fielding skills the whole time too.
Behind Ball Toss, this is another good hitting drill that will help your kids get quick to the ball. Have your batter stand in front of you and you kneel down behind them with a few balls. Have them face straight as if their looking away from you in their batting position. Toss the ball basically backwards through the strike zone and have them look straight and try to react and hit them ball. This drill is a bit difficult even for my older players but once they get it down they will be much more quicker to the ball and will stop dragging the bat through the strike zone.
These are a few good drills for younger players and older players too. Drills are important and good but conditioning is also very important too. As your player gets older, shoulder and elbow exercises with bands and such are very important. These work out the shoulder and elbow muscles to keep them from becoming strained and injured which occurs often in baseball players. Some workouts such as bench press are good for strength and all that but are very hard and bad on throwing muscles like the elbow and shoulder. These drills are great for your players and also will keep the practice going smooth and fun.
Follow The t-ball drills, This is a great drill to get your team to follower their throws. This one is good for all ages. First, have a 1 kid at all 4 bases and all the rest at shortstop. You start by hitting the ball from home plate to shortstop as the player currently at shortstop fields the ball. After they field it, they will then throw it to first and follow their throw. The first basemen will catch the ball, step on the base, and then throw the ball to second. They will then follow their throw and run to the second base position. The Shortstop that first fielded the ball should now be at first base, waiting for the next throw. The person who was at second and just caught the throw will lay down a fake tag and then throw the ball to 3rd base and follow them through.
The person at third base will catch the ball, lay down a fake tag, then throw the ball home. He will then follow his throw to home plate. The person at home will catch the ball and right as he does that, the Coach should hit another ball to short to keep the cycle going. The person at home who caught the ball will then run around and get back in line at shortstop. This is a great drill to warm up. Your kids get a nice jog in, warm up their arms, practice playing multiple positions, and learn to follow their throws.
The one Handed Hitting drill is great for hitting and really helps you keep your hands going through the ball. This is a good one for kids in kid pitch. You start by getting in soft toss position like you were going to throw your batter soft toss from the side. Have your batter choke up on the bat almost to where their hand is off the tape. Have them hold their bat with their top hand (right for lefties, left for righties) toss the ball up right in front of them and have them hit the ball with their bat. They may not succeed the first few time which will tell front of them and have them hit the ball with their bat. They may not succeed the first few time which will tell you that their dropping their hands. A good way to fix that is to have them feel like their slamming their elbow into a brick wall, to really turn it, and to have them really rotate their hips explosively. This drill will help your hitter to be quick to the ball and not come under it and hit pop flies. You can also have them do this with their other hand to but its not as effective as with their top hand. Mdfallbaseball has some awesome drills
This isn't really a drill as much as it is a game but it helps their fielding tremendously. You have them all line up on the fall line single file and stand in front of them to where the stretched far out. You should have a bat and a ball. Have one of the players throw you the ball lightly and you will bunt it softish back at them. Have them work on keeping the ball out front and fielding the ball smoothly. If they field the ball, they pick it up and toss it back to you If they mess up, the out of the game and go stand somewhere else. You repeat this cycle until one player remains who is your winner. This game is great with younger kids as well as older kids. They get into the game and have a blast and alot will be working on their fielding their fielding skills the whole time too.
Behind Ball Toss, this is another good hitting drill that will help your kids get quick to the ball. Have your batter stand in front of you and you kneel down behind them with a few balls. Have them face straight as if their looking away from you in their batting position. Toss the ball basically backwards through the strike zone and have them look straight and try to react and hit them ball. This drill is a bit difficult even for my older players but once they get it down they will be much more quicker to the ball and will stop dragging the bat through the strike zone.
These are a few good drills for younger players and older players too. Drills are important and good but conditioning is also very important too. As your player gets older, shoulder and elbow exercises with bands and such are very important. These work out the shoulder and elbow muscles to keep them from becoming strained and injured which occurs often in baseball players. Some workouts such as bench press are good for strength and all that but are very hard and bad on throwing muscles like the elbow and shoulder. These drills are great for your players and also will keep the practice going smooth and fun.