The Baseball Drills

Hitting Drills

• Hitting drills are primarily designed to help batters overcome weaknesses or bad habits that have crept into their batting strokes. Hitters spend hours working in the batting cage and on other drills to keep their swing refined so that is just flows during game situations. One of the more common problems that develops with many hitters is the habit of dropping his hands too soon and coming up through the ball. A drill that can be used to take out that action is a two-tee drill. Two batting tees are lined up front-to-back in front of a hitting practice net. The tees must be at the same height. The player then puts a ball on each tee and proceeds to take his swing. The object is to miss the back ball and hit only the front one. Because of the proximity of the balls, he must keep his hands up to avoid making contact with the back ball. This can be a station during a rotational batting practice that might also include a station with batters in the cage, another with soft toss and another with live hitting.

Bunting Drills

• Bunting is a much-overlooked skill in the game of baseball. Teams that spend time on it and are a step ahead. One of the keys to bunting is being able to place the ball exactly where you want it to go. A drill for working on this skill involves the use of small cones. The cones are placed about 30 feet out from home plate laying on their side with the open end facing home plate. One cone is placed just a few feet in from the third base line and another a little further in, and with the same placement on the first base side. Players take five sacrifice bunts and five drag bunts, trying to place the bunts either between the cones or inside them. This can be turned into a game by choosing up teams and awarding points for properly placed bunts.

Pressure Fielding Drill

• Taking ground balls at practice is a common drill, but when the game starts, the pressure of having a base runner speeding down the line changes the dynamic. A practice drill that can simulate that kind of pressure is helpful in developing the fielding, catching and throwing with a quick and proper release. A drill that will accomplish this starts with five defensive players placed at each of the infield positions and at the catcher position. The remaining players are runners, whose job is to circle the bases as fast as they can once the coach puts the ball in play. The coach hits a ground ball to one of the fielders, who throws it to the catcher. The catcher must then throw in turn to each of the other three defensive players and receive a throw back from each, with all four throws completed before the runner gets clear around to home plate. For teams playing on the full-sized diamond, this should be varied to have the first fielder throw to first base before the other throws are completed. In addition to providing a pressure fielding drill, this also helps with conditioning.