Fly Ball Drill
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Designed to teach players how to find the ball and communicate with their teammates, the Deuces Wild game is a fun way to help outfielders improve. This drill involves an outfielder with his back turned approximately 30 feet away from the coach who throws a pop-up. On the coach's command the player must quickly turn around and find the ball to make the catch. This drill can also be done with two players.
Fielding Drill
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The Crab Grab drill helps players with conditioning and understanding of field position. Players pair and face each other about 8 to 9 feet apart without their gloves. While in the proper fielding position for catching a ground ball, the players must roll the ball back and forth to each other while using the proper hand exchanges.
Catching Drill
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A drill designed to teach catchers proper stance and how to use soft hands, Inferno can help catchers loosen up when they receive balls. In this drill, the coach rapid fires 7 to 10 tennis balls at the catcher. The catcher will immediately catch and drop each ball in preparation for the next throw.
Hail Mary
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This fly ball exercise is used to teach players a quick drop step and how to accelerate to the ball. Hail Mary is a drill for both infielders and outfielders and is made for players to work on their reaction to the ball. In this drill, the coach stands approximately 10 feet in front of 3 to 4 players standing in a direct line. On command, the players must break for a run at a 45-degree angle while looking back at the coach as the coach throws the ball slightly ahead of the player.
Hot Potato
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Hot Potato is the perfect drill to teach hand and glove control and proper field position. Two infielders position themselves 10 feet from each other with a ball in their catching hand. Simultaneously, both players will toss the ball at the other player's forehand until one player drops the ball.
Zipper Relay
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This drill is all about agility. Zipper Relay starts by breaking players into small groups of two or three and placing three balls at varied distances from the players. The players then line up and on the word "Go," the first player in each line runs to the first ball, picks it up and the runs back to the other players. This continues until all the balls have been returned to their original position.
Figure 8
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Designed to teach players all the skills needed for the double play, this drill incorporates multiple skills including positioning, pre-pitch set up, fielding, feeds and pivots. The drill divides infielders into two groups, with one group going to shortstop and the other group going to second base. The coach will either roll or hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who will then throw it to the second baseman. This will continue until each player has played the shortstop and second base position.
Human Knot
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Human knot teaches players teamwork and communication. Players are broken up into teams of five or six and must form a circle where they are all facing each other. Players then must randomly connect hands, thus creating a "knot." Without letting go of anyone's hand, the players must unwind their knot.
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