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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!
This hitter's "backyard basketball goal" makes batting practice at home as eazy as "shooting a game of horse!" What could
25,000 more swings a year do for your swing? Think About it!
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DIRT LINES "Ground Ball Drill"
Great Drill For Teaching
Ground Ball Fundamentals.
This drill is used to teach young players to get their hands and glove out front when fielding a grounder. The young player
often gets in the habit of catching grounders close to his or her feet or slightly in front of the toes. As coaches, we want
infielders to extend their arms and get the glove out in front so that they can see the ball into it. The player should "lay"
the glove on the ground out in front of his body . Each players distance will vary. However, a good rule of thumb is to try
and extend the length from the players arm or from the tip of the fingers to the armpit. Another good measuring scale is they
should be able to extend the length of the the bat they use. This distance is measured on the ground from the back of his
heel outward. For this drill we pair two players. The players will roll grounders to each other from about 6 to 8 feet. The
coach draws two lines in the dirt about 8 feet apart. The players must catch the ball out in front of this line. The coach
will then draw a second line for each player. this is the "feet" line. The players feet must stay behind this line.
The players roll the ball and catch it while making sure to: 1) Get extension, 2) Keep the elbows off the ribs, 3) Funnel
the ball in using the top "bare" hand. 4) Work their feet as they bring the ball up to the correct "T"
throwing position. 5) Roll the ball back to your partner 6) Repeat the process. 50 to 100 "GB's" each practice should
be done.
The distance can be changed to accommodate the speed of the groundball work.
For a diagram of this drills click here to go to the Hit2win.com drill page.
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"Double Buckets"
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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