Baseball Individual Position Drills

Team drills in baseball typically involve two or three players actively participating while the remaining six or seven stand and watch. This clearly is not an efficient way to practice. Because of this, baseball coaches have organized practice to include several minutes of individual position drills. The beauty of these drills is that they can be done simultaneously so that in a short period of time every player can get several repetitions.

  1. Outfield Drills

    • On most coaching staffs, one coach is assigned to work with outfielders. During position drills, all outfielders form a line in center field, while the coach and one player stand along the foul line. The coach hits fly balls of varying height and distance, as well as line drives to the outfielders who take turns fielding the ball and making an accurate throw to the player who is with the coach. By using this drill on a team with six or seven primary outfielders, each player can field 15 to 20 balls in the course of only 15 minutes.

    Infield Drills

    • Typically two coaches are responsible for the infield, and by having both coaches hit ground balls simultaneously, the pace of practice is increased significantly. Each coach uses a catcher to catch return throws. In addition, one first baseman is on the base, while another stands 10 feet closer to home and just behind the baseline. One coach stands to the first base side of the home plate circle and the other coach stands to the third base side. What each coach does from here can vary depending on how the practice is structured. One option is to have a coach responsible for double plays, and another responsible for getting one out. One coach hits to the shortstop who turns a double play, while the other coach hits to the third basemen, who then throw to the extra first baseman standing in the grass. After a time, the third basemen turn double plays while the shortstop, staying deep in the hole to avoid getting in the way, throws to the extra first baseman. When the second basemen field and turn a double play, the other coach hits to the third baseman again, who can either throw to a reserve first baseman or throw home.

    Catcher's Drills

    • One common catching drill consists of a coach standing no more than 15 to 20 feet away. The coach intentionally throws bad pitches in all directions that the catcher must drop or slide to block. Another catching drill is framing pitches. Catchers must practice wrapping their mitt around their thumb on high pitches and pitches to either side of the plate. Wrapping the mitt around the thumb places more of the mitt over the plate and can get a strike called on a pitch that might not be a strike.

    Pitcher's Drills

    • Pitchers spend a significant amount of time working on fielding their position. Most of this work is done before or after the main portion of practice because typically pitchers play other positions. Pitchers will throw a relaxed pitch, and the coach will simulate a bunt to either side of the mound, making the pitcher come off the mound and field the bunt before turning and throwing to first. The other primary pitching drill is the banana drill. Again after throwing a relaxed pitch, the coach hits a ground ball to the first baseman, pulling him away from the base. The pitcher must come off the mound and run at an angle to the baseline before turning and running parallel to the baseline and catching a throw on the run and touching the base to record the out.