T-Ball Ideas

Milk Jug Drill

• One of the basic skills associated with playing baseball is fielding a ground ball. Whether the players are in the infield or outfield they will need to learn how to catch the ball in the glove, while securing it with their top hand. For this drill, cut a milk carton in half (gallon size), and discard the half without the handle. Instruct the players to hold the milk carton by the handle with their glove hand, then roll baseballs or tennis balls in their direction. They must catch the ball and secure it in place with their throwing hand. This will help improve the youngsters hand-eye coordination.

Mirror Stance

• When players start playing t-ball, they might not know how to correctly swing the bat. Pair up left-handed hitting coaches with right-handed hitting players and vice versa. Both the coach and the player should have a baseball bat. The player should step to the tee and show the coach how he swings. The coach should then see where the player needs correcting and show him in slow motion how a proper swing looks. The two should then swing in slow motion together "mirroring" each other. The coach should look at the players head, to make sure it is focused on the ball, feet to make sure the front foot is stepping toward the pitcher during the swing, and hands to make sure they are coming through the strike zone and that the player is holding the bat with both hands all the way through the swing.

Baseball Card Quiz

• Because many players are just learning about the game of baseball, you can create a quiz at the start or end of practice. The prize for answering questions correctly is that the players get to pick a baseball card from a brown bag. Buying two or three packs of cards before practice will ensure that there is enough for everyone. The questions can be very basic such as "how many outs in an inning?" And they can also highlight rules specific to the t-ball league such as "true or false, sliding headfirst into home plate is allowed." The answer to this is most likely false. This can be an exercise the team does each week as they learn more about the game.

Situational Running and Fielding

• Place members of the team in the field. The rest of players should split up between home plate, first, second and third base. The coach should ask a question describing the situation. For example, "If there is one out and there is a ground ball, what do the base runners do?" The second question is to the fielders asking "where is the play?" After both questions have been answered correctly by the runners and fielders respectively, the coach hits the ball into play. The players on base advance how they would in a game situation, while the players in the field try and execute the play.