Indoor Youth Baseball Drills

Outdoor baseball practices allow players to practice skills that will be used in youth league baseball games. Sometimes the weather is inclement or a field is not available for use, but this does not mean that the team can't practice. Instead, move the practice indoors for the day. There are a variety of drills that players can participate in to improve skills such as fielding, throwing and base running while practicing indoors.

  1. Base running relay race

    • Split your team into two groups of an equal number of players. One group should stand in a line behind second base, and the other behind home plate. This can be done indoors in a gym with bases laid out at standard 90 foot distances in a diamond shape. Give the first player in each line a baseball. When the coach blows a whistle the first player from each team starts to run the bases in order. When he returns to his team's line, the ball is passed to the next player. This continues until the last player on one team finishes running the bases. First team to finish wins.

    Pitcher's accuracy drill

    • Mark off the standard distance from home plate to the pitcher's mound inside the gym. Have the pitcher stand at one end of this distance and place home plate at the other end. The catcher squats behind home plate. He calls various pitches and locations for the pitcher. Each pitch is called a strike or ball, based on being within a radius of 2 inches from the catcher's glove. This can be done using a coach as an umpire, or the catcher can make the ball and strike calls. Each strikeout is worth one point and a walk is a negative point. Give each pitcher a specific number of pitches. The pitcher on the team with the highest score wins the drill.

    Infield throwing drill

    • Assign one player on the team to each base in the infield, placed in the gym 90 feet apart in a diamond pattern just like an outdoor baseball field. The rest of the players line up at the shortstop position. The coach hits a ground ball to the first player at the shortstop position. He throws the ball to the player at first base, who throws to second base, player at second base throws to third base, and that player throws to home plate. Each player goes to the base he threw the ball to during the drill, with the catcher going to the back of the line at the shortstop position. This drill teaches how to make good throws from each of the different infield positions.