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"Make Believe" Infield
Great warm-up for
certain situations
The teams takes perfect infield by allowing every player to
make a perfect catch and throw. The way this drill is conducted is the coach does not use a ball. He hits a "make-believe"
ball. Each time the player goes through the correct motion of fielding the ball and making a perfect play. Each time the player
receiving the throw will pat his glove to simulate a catch. Emphasis is placed on talking, following through, and making everything
look perfect. No one will mess up or make a bad mistake. I have used this drill many, many times in practice and before games.
It is especially good with young kids to emphasis correct body mechanics. It is also useful if you get to a field for a game
and the playing surface is too wet or rough to take a "good" round of infield. Sometimes it is better not to use a real ball
in warm-up if there is a risk of the ball taking a terrible bounce. Bad infield and warm-up may bring down "team esteem".
I've never had a team take "make believe" infield that was anything less than great! It's always perfect!
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Double Buckets GB Drill
Ground Ball Drill
for Infielders
This drill is actually a method of taking a lot of ground balls
with out having your players make any throw. The drill requires 36 baseballs, two buckets and a fungo bat. The coach will
be hitting ground balls to at least 3 players. 5 or 6 players can be worked at a time using this drill. The coach will place
the two buckets about 45 feet apart. All of the balls are in one of the buckets. This is the bucket that the coach will get
his balls from. The players are lined up single file with one behind another, on the end with the empty bucket. The coach
hits grounders. The players field each ground ball and get in proper throwing position. They then sprint to the empty bucket,
drop the ball in and get in the back of the line. There is no throwing of balls during this drill. When all balls have been
hit, fielded and dropped in the bucket, the coach and players swap ends and the drill starts over.
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Cut-off Relays
Great for building skills,
speed, accuracy and confidence.
This drill is a great skill builder. There will be at least
5 players on a team. They line up about 30 feet apart and stretch about 120 feet across the field. You will have two teams
or "lines" competing against each other. Make sure to have you catcher, first baseman, and third baseman on one end. Have
an outfielder on the opposite end. Your middle infielder should be in the middle. The drill will start for both lines at the
same time. The first team to take the ball to the other end and get it back is the winner. The ball must be caught and thrown
by each player in the line. Teams may not skip a man. The catchers should practice catching and tagging a runner. The middle
infielders should be taught to properly "round" the ball, make a proper relay catch and quick throw. We often do this drill
and the losing team must do 5 or 10 pushups or squat thrust.
Catcher-------------x--------------------x------------------x--------------------Outfielder
The distances should be matched to the age. You may also have the outfielder let the ball go and hit the fence, before
he goes retrieves it and makes his throw to the cutoff man. You may also want to make this a "total team" drill with the whole
team having to catch and throw the ball to cover a long distance. If you have the room to do this, it is great to have the
team work together to beat the clock. They must beat a set time or they "pay". You may also want to have the "line" make more
than one trip down and back. It is great to make each "line" take the ball to the other end three times.
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