How to Run an Effective Youth Batting Practice

Running an effective youth batting practice will improve your team's offensive production. As a coach or team manager, it is your responsibility to keep your young players engaged by creating a fast-paced and competitive environment. This can be done by splitting a batting practice session into different rounds. These rounds will require your players to practice a variety of different situational swings, including the bunt, the ground ball, the sacrifice fly and the line drive.

Things You'll Need

  • Red, green and blue markers
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Instructions

  1. Batting Practice Rounds

    • 1

      Begin the first round of batting practice by instructing your players to bunt. Pitch 10 to 12 balls at game-like speeds and instruct your players to alternate their bunts along the first and third base lines. Remind your players to keep the bat head out in front of their bodies. This will ensure that they won't pop the ball up in the air, which in games can result in an easy out for the opposition.

    • 2

      Focus on situational hitting in the second round of batting practice. Place a runner on second base and explain to your team the importance of moving him to third, even if the at bat results in an out. Productive outs -- outs that help move base runners forward -- are an important part of baseball and should be taught during batting practice. With a man on second base, pitch 10 to 12 balls at game-like speeds to each player. Tell your batters to try to hit ground balls to the right side of the infield, allowing the runner to move to third base on contact. Set up an infield defense to try to prevent the base runner from advancing.

    • 3

      Shift your attention to sacrifice flies in the third round of batting practice. Place a runner on third base and instruct your batters to try to fly the ball to the defensive outfielders. Pitch 10 to 12 balls at game-like speeds to each player and encourage uppercut swings. This will help your players drive the ball out of the infield and allow the runner on third base to tag up and score. Sacrifice flies are an important way to manufacture runs when hits are hard to come by.

    • 4

      Use a point system in the fourth round of batting practice to encourage friendly competition among your young players. Assign zero points for missed swings or foul balls, one point for pop flies, two points for ground balls and three points for line drives. Pitch 20 balls to each player on your team and have them keep track of their scores. Evaluate player performances after the session and address individual weaknesses in the next batting practice.

    "Good Eye" Batting Drill

    • 5

      Finish batting practice by running the "Good Eye" batting drill. This drill is a creative way to have fun and keep your young players engaged at the end of a long day. Before you run the drill, use a red marker to place several visible dots on five to 10 balls. Place blue dots on another five to 10 balls and green dots on a third group of five to 10 balls.

    • 6

      Randomly grab a colored ball and pitch it to a batter. As you deliver the ball, call out one of the three ball colors, either red, blue or green. Instruct the batter to swing at the ball if, and only if, the color of the ball matches the color you called out during your delivery.

    • 7

      Call out the true identity of the ball about half of the time. Call out a non-matching color identity on the rest of the throws. This drill will help your young batters focus on keeping their eyes on the ball. It will also discipline your players by requiring them to make split second decisions as to whether or not they should swing.