Fun Youth Baseball Drills For Beginner

Fun youth baseball drills can help young players establish their fundamentals better. Before knowing baseball drill you have to know the basics. If you are not good at the game, then you won’t be able to enjoy baseball to the fullest. A baseball player has specific requirements to be a good player. A good player must be good at the basics. The basics include:

• Batting
• Fielding
• Throwing
• Catching and
• Pitching

Although in the world of baseball, there are different positions and players need to specialize in different skills for their respective positions. But that doesn’t change the fact it’s essential for players to be good at the basics, especially when they are young.

Drills can be difficult and intensive; however, they can be fun and beneficial for young talents. If you are a young baseball player or just beginning to play the game, no matter the position you choose, these fun youth baseball drills can help you develop as a baseball player.

 

Make Your Youth Baseball  Drills Practice Fun and Productive

Before we get in the drills, you should know that drills can be sometimes physically and mentally exhaustive but try have fun even when practicing. However, many good coaches say three elements can make practice fun and productive for the players. And it would be great if you have a coach who knows their stuff.

• Involvement
• Speed
• Focus

Involvement: No players want to be excluded when everyone else is working hard. So involve every player’s in the drills.

Speed: If the drills take too long, the players may become too tired and distracted. So don’t make the drills too long. 

Focus: Make the players from a particular position focus on specific drills. Repetition is the key to becoming better. 

 

Batting Drills

Batting is one of the most important aspects of baseball, and it’s a necessary skill to acquire for a baseball player. Many drills can help with a player’s hitting skills; below are some of the standard batting drills to improve a player’s hitting skills.

Tee Hitting Drill

Purpose

Helps a player understand hitting fundamentals.

Execution

• Player gets into a normal batting stance beside the home plate.
• A tee is placed in front of him.
• The player takes a swing usually and hit the ball off the tee. 

Tips

• You can move the tees inside or outside to simulate different pitches.

 

Line Drive Derby

Purpose 

The goal of this drill is to improve your line drive and to see how many you can hit consecutively.

Execution 

• Make the player hit as many as line drive he can.
• Work in groups with 5 pitch sequences, and the drills is how many lines drives the player can hit out of 5 pitches.
• The pitches can be whiffles, underhanded front toss, overhand, etc. 

Tips

• It’s better if you pair with other players. This will make the drill more fun, and you will improve fast. 

 

Wiffle Tee Home Run Derby

Purpose

This drill can improve a young player’s batting sense, eye-coordination, and hitting strength.

Execution

• You need another person to help you with this drill. 
• Find a spot where you can visually see where you need to hit the ball to. Put a tee relative to that spot and see how you do.

Tips

• It’s better if you do the drill consecutively for 3-4 reps.
  

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The Short Bat Drill

Purpose

Teaches the batter not to lift the front arm allowing him to drag the bat’s head; as a result, having a slow and long swing. It’s an excellent drill to improve a batter’s swing.

Execution

• The batter holds a short bat beside a tee.
• The batter gets into batting stance.
• Next, the batter holds the bat with his leading arm and the other arm against his chest.
• Finally, the batter swings the bat one-handed aiming into the net.

Tips

• You can buy a short training bat for practice or cut a wood bat half the length.
• The front elbow should be down when the bat head goes down into the ball. 

 

Vision Drill

Purpose

This drill helps with the batter’s vision to see the ball better and pick up the ball better out of the pitcher’s hand.

Execution

• The batter gets into the batting stance, and the coach pitches the ball.
• The first half, the batter yells “ball” as soon as the ball leaves the coach’s hand and he does not swing.
• In the next half, the batter yells “ball” as soon as the ball leaves the coach’s hand and he swings and hits the ball, he yells “hit” as the bat contacts the ball.
• In the final part, the coach yells “hit” when he wants the batter to hit forcing the batter to wait for the ball and track it.

Tips

• The batter should anticipate when the ball will leave the coach’s hand so he can yell “ball” at the right time.
• The coach should yell “hit” when he is about to release the ball or when it’s halfway through the home plate.

 

Bunt Visualization

Purpose

Helps player develop bunting technique and timing.

Execution

• One player requires to be the pitcher (in this case it should be a coach so he could provide pointers). He should stand 20-30 in front of the player in the stretch position.
• The batter begins with the normal batting stance
• The pitcher goes into the pitching motion, and as he strides starting to cock his arm back, the batter goes into the bunt position and freeze.
• The pitcher/coach evaluates the batter’s timing and mechanics, then provide corrections.
• Restart the drill. The pitcher will complete his pitching motion and this time throw an imaginary ball.
• The batter will imagine the ball getting into the strike zone and bunt.
• Repeat the drill until the batter gets the hang of it.

Tips

• Keep your hands relaxed and bunt to the top of the ball so it rolls immediately to the ground.
• When you get used to deceptive practice, add a live pitcher, and practice bunts using different types of breaking balls, fastballs, and changeups.

 

Fielding Drills

A player needs to be good at fielding as it’s one of the most important aspects of baseball. For example, if you’re a shortstop and you let a pitch go by you when the base is loaded, the opposite team will get run and can potentially cost you the game. Therefore, fielding skills are essential to become good at the game. These are some of the most common and useful fielding drills used all around the world. 

 

 

Five Grounders in a Row

Purpose

Allows a player to reinforce good glove/receiving habits. 

Execution

• The player in a strong fielding position and the coach is in front of him about 12′-15’.
• The coach hits grounders in succession, and the player receives the first ball and discards it to his throwing side, like this up to 5 grounders. 

Tips

• Since the grounder will come fast, don’t try to move while trying to field.
• After receiving the first grounder, pay attention to the next one fast.

 

Bean Bag or Frisbee Toss

Purpose

Helps a player improve his glove hand skills and get better at catching a baseball.

Execution

• The player and thrower (the one who will throw the frisbee or bean bag) will stand 15 feet apart, facing each other.
• The thrower will toss the frisbee or bean bag underhanded or flipping the frisbee slightly, giving the player a catchable throw.
• The player will be ready in a catching stance with his gloved hand.

Tips 

• The goal of this drill is to train the glove hand and arm to work correctly, so only use the glove hand when receiving.
• Increase the difficulty once you get used to catching the frisbee or bean bag.
  

Through The Wickets Drill

Purpose

Helps players understand the importance of being quick on their feet, moving to get the ground balls and get their body in front of the ball.

Execution

• The player will be on a fielding stance, and the coach will be in front ready to roll ground balls.
• The coach will begin to roll ground balls in a medium speed. 
• The coach will alternate the position of the ball left, and right, so the player will need to move several steps left and right to get the balls. 

Tips

• In this drill, your goal as the player should be moving your body in a position, so each ball roll between your legs and through your legs.
• The speed of the balls should be fast enough for the player to move quickly but not too fast for the player to get.

 

Goalie Drill

Purpose

This drill helps players get comfortable and confident in getting in front of the ball and keeping their bodies squared up to the ball. 

Execution

• The player should be in a ready pose about 15 feet away from the coach who will throw the balls.
• This drill is designed to work with tennis balls and a surface that allows the ball to bounce.
• The coach will bounce the balls into the player’s chest height, and the player’s goal is to use his chest to block each ball and knock them back to the coach. 

Tips

• The coach should bounce the balls at enough speed to force the player move left and right, but not too fast for the player to react.

 

Short Hop Drill

Purpose

Improve player’s infield glove skills.

Execution

• Fielder will be on his knees with glove out in front of his body without stiffening the arms, and the coach or partner will be on knees about 10 feet away.
• The coach or partner will drop the ball in front of the player softly so that it creates a short hop.
• The player will push his glove through the ball, extending his arm, and trying to catch the ball without fumbling.

Tips

• Extend your hand when you push the glove through the ball and try to keep your fingers pointed to the ground as long as possible.
• You should also avoid flipping the glove up and curl your wrist.

During the drill, your eyes and head should stay on the baseball and glove.

Pitching Drills

A game starts with pitching; on the other hand, a game can’t start without a pitcher. So it can be said that pitching is one of the most critical aspects of the game. These drills can help with a pitcher’s improvement.

Heel Up Pitching Drill

Purpose

This drill focuses on rolling the back foot over, releasing the knee so that energy is transferred throughout the body.

Execution

• The pitcher stands in a normal pitching stance with feet shoulder-width or a little apart.
• He goes to the motion, then rocks back his body, putting weight on his back leg. 
• Pitcher completes the motion in a “T” position and throws the ball, then finishes over his opposite knee.
• Repeat this 15-20 times.

Tips

• You should throw the ball forward or downward plane because these are the toughest pitch to hit.
• When finishing over the knee, make sure the pitcher is maintaining his balance.

 

Pads for Stride Drill

Purpose

Helps to make sure the pitcher doesn’t overstride during pitching.

Execution

• Place a pad in front of the mound that’s about 90% height of the pitcher away from the rubber.
• When the drill begins, the coach yells, “Do not touch the pad.”
• The pitcher goes into a normal pitching stance, then start striding without touching the pad.
• This continues until the coach shouts stop.

Tips

• You can shorten your stride by having the toes of your front foot point toward the ground.
• Pad can help prevent you from opening up too much during pitching. 

 

Towel Drill

Purpose

Helps replicate the resistance of throwing a ball and strengthens the arm.

Execution

• The pitcher will hold the end of a towel.
• He will wind up like he’s pitching a ball and then he’ll throw the towel.
• Repeat this several times.

Tips

• You can use a wet towel if you want to increase difficulty.
• You can repeat this several times, then rest and begin again. 

 

Make Your Baseball Drills Fun

Always aiming to improve your skill as a baseball player is good; however, the center of this game is to have fun. So, practice with the aim to have fun, and you can sure improve faster than your rivals. Drills can be difficult and hard but remember you are not alone; you have your teammates with you who are doing the drills just like you. Have fun with them and grow up as a baseball player together.