Practice Drills

I was just wondering some of your thoughts on good drills for practice. Sometimes we fall into a rut of same ole, same ole when it comes to practice. This can be for any age group as a 10u parent asked me, but I would like to see how it varies.

 

Especially for younger players

two of my favorite drills are to throw Pop flies to a player and as soon the ball is caught and the throwing motion starts throw another pop fly. This helps kids learn to find the ball. Pick up the pace of the fly balls as skills increase.
Also a good old fashion game of pickle. Teaches teamwork, mechanics, and timing. Also the girls seem to have fun in the process and it envolves several players at once.

 

Although this doesn't discuss drills per se, this is how one of the all time best HS baseball coach organizes his fall season. He mentions a lot of areas that are important, but he has the best organized practice you will see outside of college (and in some cases his practices are better than some colleges)

You have always had a successful program at -----------. How do your keep the program reloaded?

Most important, we have been very fortunate to have many talented players. My goal is to develop each player to become a better player and person than he ever imagined. I also let them know how much I care about them and constantly relate life lessons as it relates to baseball. I am very open and honest with my players and I am always approachable. I want to know how their social life is, how things are going at home, etc. Player roles are specifically defined. I communicate to them what their individual role is for the team's success and expect them to fulfill it. We provide a highly structured, competitive, enthuasiastic (we get after it), and organized practice. Each player knows exactly what is expected of him every day he comes to practice. We pay attention to specific details in every phase of the game with our preparation and leave no stones unturned. We are well aware of our opponents strength's and weaknesses and work very hard on game planning and scouting reports. We will not tolerate mental errors. In practice, we put our players in high pressure, game like situations and expect them to execute. Offensively, we want to create scoring opportunities, pressure the defense, and push the pace of the game. Defensively, we ask our players to make the routine play, be in the correct position, and make no unnecessary throws ( we talk about keeping the force in order to limit big innings all the time). Our pitchers are asked to throw strikes, limit walks, and make our opponents hit their good pitches. They are well aware of the speed threats, running counts, player tendencies, and the hitters who can hurt us. We practice J.V. and varsity together for the majority of practice on a typical day. Sometimes we will seperate for team defense, while other days we run the varsity team defense against the jv team offense or vice versa. The junior varsity system is exactly the same as our varsity system. We spend as much time developing our young players as we do our varsity players. I believe our jv players develop and are prepared at a faster rate because of this and also because they see what pace they need to be at on the varsity level. Our off season workouts begin in October and end the week prior to tryouts ( excluding mandatory dead periods, exam week and the holidays). We practice ( with the maximum 8 players) four days per week. Monday is our offensive day with cage and main field hitting routines and base running ( usually live reads off the bat). Tuesday is our defensive day with throwing progressions, individual defense, and mass. Wednesday is our pitching day with individual work, PFP, pickoffs, live bullpens, and a mental session. Thursday is a combination of offense and defense. Offensively, we'll do a cage routine and base running (pick reads vs RHP, LHP, dirt reads, bunt reads and a 5 man base running drill). Defensively, we'll do our IF/OF routine followed by team defense. (1st and 3rd, bunt, pressure plays, fly ball communication, tandems, and passed ball coverage). I communicate quite often with our players' fall coaches during this time to make sure they understand what we are doing and that we are all on the same page. Ultimately, we hope to never be outworked, out prepared or out conditioned by our opponents