Connecticut High School Baseball All Stars

PRACTICE DRILLS

The coach who wants to get the most out of his practice sessions will do so by applying the use of uniform practice drills. The drills should lead to a more enjoyable and faster-paced practice.

When applying practice drills, the coach must guard against extending any of the drills beyond the point of enjoyment for the players. A drill should be completed at the moment the coach feels his players are enjoying it the most. By stopping at this point, the players will look forward to repeating the drill at practices in the future. No drill will be fully effective if it is run for any monger than ten minutes.

The drills that a coach will use are determined largely by the strengths and weaknesses of his squad. The coach must be sure to run drills that will benefit all the members of his squad, and most drills should be run with seven players or fewer at one time. By keeping a low number of players involved, a coach can be sure that every member of the drill is constantly in motion.

This section outlines several of the best drills with which I have come in contact with. Most of the drills, if run properly, will increase the accuracy of a player's throws, along with helping him develop quickness. Be sure the players know how the drills are helping them, and they will work harder to improve.

DOUBLE-PLAY DRILL


The back bone of infield defense is the double play. The ability of a team to complete a double play at a key moment in most cases will spell the difference between victory and defeat.

This drill will prepare your squad to turn a double play, and it is also a great drill in pre-season to bring your players to peak playing condition.

Start by selecting two second basemen, and two shortstops, two first basemen, and a catcher. Position you middle infielders so that they are standing directly behind each other , at their respective positions. After instructing your first basemen to alternate every 25 throws at first base, position yourself and your catcher in the middle of the infield on the second base side of the pitching mound. To begin the drill, you hit a ground ball to the front second baseman, who flips to the front shortstop covering the second base bag. The shortstop makes a throw to the first baseman, who then relays a throw to the catcher standing next to you. The key to the drill is to keep the ball moving, so after the first ball is hit to the second baseman, the coach will almost immediately hit another ball to the other second baseman, who will complete the same double play with the second shortstop. In order to keep two balls moving in the drill, it will be necessary to have the front athletes in the drill to circle behind the second fielders, or they will bump into each other.

After each of the second baseman has fielded a ground ball, the coach will hit a ball to each of the shortstops, who are covering the bag. It will then be a throw from the second baseman to first to complete the double play.

The key point in turning the double play at the second base is to be sure that the fielder receiving the throw is stepping directly toward first base as he makes his throw. By stepping directly to the first base bag as he throws, the man will insure a strong and accurate throw to first base.

Instruct the extra first baseman to back up all throws to first base, but he will hold any overthrows until after 25 double plays have been made. The coach should have several extra baseballs with him to allow for errors and bad throws so that he can keep the drill moving. If no errors are made, the coach need only to look to his catcher after he has hit the second baseball. By that time the catcher will have received the first ball from the first baseman.

This double-play drill is a very tiring drill. It is best performed with two sets of middle infielders, which will rotate every 25 double plays. If two sets are available, the drill can be run for 10 minutes. If only one set is available, they will tire after about 5 minutes.

PITCHING DEFENSE DRILL


The ability of a pitcher to field his position can be a vital cog in any team's defense. In the past few years I have developed the use of a three-in- one pitching drill, which covers several of the important jobs which all pitchers must perform.

To set up the drill, the coach will assign members of his team to play first, second and third base. He then will position himself and one assistant at home plate, set up with one man on each side of the catcher. The coach at this point instructs three members of his pitching staff to line up on the pitching mound. The pitchers will line up in a straight line with first and third base, with the pitcher in the middle in possession of a baseball.

The drill starts with the middle pitcher throwing the ball to the catcher. The catcher, upon receiving the ball, will roll it directly back to the mound. At the moment the ball hits the catcher's mitt, the coach on the third base side will hit a ball to the first baseman, while the other coach on the first base side will roll a ball down toward third base.

As soon as the balls hit the infield grass, the three pitchers will react. The pitcher on the first-base side of the mound will cover the first base bag and receives a throw from the first baseman. The middle pitcher fields the ball from the catcher and turns and throws to second base. The pitcher on the third-base side of the mound fields the ball rolled down the third base side and throws to third base.

Upon completion of the drill, the pitcher covering first base will bring the ball back to the mound to start the drill again. The third baseman rolls the ball to the coach on the third base line, while the second baseman throws the ball to the catcher, who returns it to the coach on the first base side.

Two key points of this drill are to be sure that the pitcher covers the first base bag correctly. This is done by running to a point on the baseline ten feet in front of the bag and running straight through the bag. The second point is to be sure that the pitcher in the middle turns to his glove hand side when throwing to second base, which will reduce his footwork by one step.

When the pitchers have mastered the three-in-one drill, the coach may add a fourth step by placing a ball ten feet behind the catcher. After the catcher has rolled the ball to the middle pitcher, he turns and moves to the ball behind him. The catcher will cover the loose ball and throw it to a fourth pitcher who is covering the plate. The ball is played as if it were a passed ball with a runner attempting to score.

OUTFIELD RELAY DRILL


This drill can be of equal value to a team's infielders, who man times will be the second thrower of a successful relay.

The drill starts with the coach forming two lines, with six or fewer players in each line. In order to make the drill more enjoyable, the coach should make every attempt to even the lines out in ability so the players may compete against each other.

The players space out about 70 feet between themselves and the other members of their line. A ball is set on the ground about 10 feet in front of the first player in each line. As soon as the coach signals to start the drill, the first player runs to the ball, turns, and throws to the next person in his line. The ball travels up and down each line, and the first line to finish is the winner.

The only rule in this drill is that if a player overthrows the next man in his line, the ball must be returned to the overthrown man before it can be advanced.

This drill will increase the throwing range and accuracy of your outfielders, but a third benefit of the drill can be obtained. The coach must be sure that the players turn to their glove hand side as they throw to the next player in line. A player eliminates one step on each relay throw by turning to the glove hand side when he throws.

OUTFIELD THROWING DRILL


Begin by selecting seven outfielders and have them line up one behind each other in center field. You will also have infielders at second base, shortstop, third base. Also position a first baseman in a cut off position on the second base side of the mound and a catcher behind the plate.

The coach will hit a ball to the front outfielder who will make a throw to second base. This outfielder will then go to the back of the line, and the second outfielder will make his throw to the third base bag and go to the back of the line. The third outfielder to receive a ball will throw to the plate, and move to the back of the line. The process is then continued with the next three outfielders, and the seventh outfielder will make his throw to second base.

By having an odd number of outfielders the coach will be forcing each of his outfielders make a throw to a different base each time they return to the front of the line.

A final point in the outfield throwing drill is that the outfielders should be sure to make their throw directly through their shortstop and first base cut offs when making the throws to third base and home.

INFIELD THROWING DRILL


This is a drill to increase an infielder's throwing accuracy while the fielder is trying to get rid of a throw as quickly as possible. The drill is set up with a player covering the pitcher, catcher, and each infield position.

The coach starts the drill by hitting a ground ball to any one of the fielders, who must pick up the ball and throw it to any of the remaining players. The key is to instruct the player with the ball to get rid of his throw as quickly as possible. This will teach the infielders to come up throwing, and will stop payers from babying their throws. The minute a ball is overthrown by a fielder, the coach will immediately hit another ball so the drill will keep moving. The drill can be turned into a game by keeping track of the number of successful throws by each infield unit.

It must be mentioned by the coach to his infielders that they should attempt to make throws of different lengths during the drill. The infielder who always picks the short throws in this drill will not improve as much as the infielder who mixes up his throws. Also remember that the pitcher is part of the drill because sometimes they forget the he is standing there.

GROUND BALL DRILL


After a coach has worked on special drills to polish his players at their respective positions, he must not lose sight of the need for a good ground ball drill. Far too often a coach will hit ground balls to his players during batting practice and feel the job is done when the batting practice ends. This is far from being true when you consider that a ball game is won or lost on a team's ability to stop a ball which has been hit on the ground.

This drill is formed by pairing off eight infielders in groups of two, and positioning them throughout the infield. After the infielders take their positions, the outfielders will pair off at the foul lines. The outfielders will hit ground balls across the infield to the infielders. The batters on the first base side will hit to the fielders on the third base side. The batters on the third base side will hit to the fielders on the first base side. Each of the batters will have another member of the team catching return throws from the infielders. the coaches will also position a player in left and right field to pick up any balls which get by the infielders.

If this drill is run fifteen minutes each day, it will allow each infielder the opportunity to pick up fifty ground balls. The drill can be turned into a contest by having the batters keep track of the number of errors made by each infielder. These totals can be compared at the end of the drill.

CATCHING - PASSED BALL DRILL


One of the most devastating defensive lapses in baseball is a passed ball by the catcher with a runner on third base. A passed ball in this situation can, and will in many cases, produce the cheapest run in baseball. This drill will school your catcher on how to attack the ball after it has gotten away from him and how to get it back to the plate as quickly as possible.

To begin the drill, the coach will place about ten balls on the ground behind the plate. After sending five of his pitchers to the mound, the coach positions himself in the batter's box. The play is put into action when the coach swings a bat at the plate. As soon as the bat swings, the catcher breaks back to the ball and throws it to a pitcher, who has moved from the mound to cover the plate.

The key to the drill is how the catcher picks up the ball. The second he spots the ball, he moves to it and, as he approaches it, goes into a slide, much like sliding into a base. This slide is made on the shin guard, with the glove hand toward the ground. when his slide has put the ball at about his waist, the catcher picks up the ball in his bare hand, while propping himself up with his glove hand. In this position, the catcher will throw to the pitcher covering. the catcher will gain confidence in throwing from this position with this drill.

PRE-GAME WARM-UP DRILL


It is my belief that the beginning of a good game is a good pre-game warm-up drill. Players who run through a fast paced warm-up will be ready for anything that the game may offer. For the past ten seasons, I have run the same pre-game drills and have found them to be very successful in preparing the players for the up and coming contest. The following is a complete outline of the Mustangs' pre-game drill. I hope you will find it both interesting and useful.

The drill begins with the focus set on the infielders and starts with each infielder getting five rapid-fire ground balls in a row. These ground balls are hit to the infielders while they are standing only 45 feet from the plate and are returned immediately to the catcher. The ground balls are not hit hard and are only for the purpose of preparing your infielders for picking up grounders and loosening up the arms with short throws.

After taking the five short ground balls, the infielders drop back to normal depth and get a ground ball, which will be thrown to first base.

At this point the coach turns to the outfielders and instructs them to throw to the second base bag with two fly balls which are hit to them. After two throws to second, the outfielders will each make two throws to third base.

The coach returns to the infielders with a ground ball to each, after which the infielder covers his bag for a return throw from the catcher. When the second baseman gets his throw from the catcher, he will throw to third base, and the ball will be relayed to the plate.

After getting one out in practice, the infielder will turn a double play, with the first infielder to field the ball again covering his base for a return throw from the catcher. Again all throws from the catcher will be thrown around the infield and returned to the plate by the third baseman.

To end the drill, the coach will hit two fly balls to each outfielder, who will throw to the plate. The coach must be sure that the third baseman cuts off throws from left field, and the first baseman cuts off throws from center field and right field.

In an effort to get your team prepared for the contest, it is very important that the coach demand that any and all throws be made at full strength throughout the drill. If a fielder fails to warm up at full speed, it is highly unlikely that when pressured during the game he will be able to respond to meet the tasks before him. It is also important to talk it up during the warm-ups so as to build up team spirit.