The ideal baseball drills keep your entire team active while working onfundamentals. Here are 4 infield defense drills to keep in your practice plan.
The key to an effective and efficient baseball practice is eliminating downtime for your team. Here are 4 essential infield defense drills that keep your team active, engaged, and working on fundamentals. Keepthese in your practice plan.
CUTOFF RELAY
It’s a throwing relay race that players look forward to every practice. Divideyour players into equal teams (4 to 5) with players at an equal distance apart(25 to 40 feet depending on age group). Place the first player in each group onthe foul line. On your command, players throw down the line and back. It’s a fun game for the players but moreover an opportunity to practice thefundamentals of receiving a relay—giving a big target, moving toward the balland getting it gloveside, then transitioning to a crow-hop, and sending itcleanly. If the ball is overthrown or misplayed, it must return to the throwingplayer before it can continue. Players rotate down the line after each round. Afun twist is to throw in a team of coaches and parents.
PARTNER ROLLS
Pair players in two facing lines 10 feet apart with one ball. The playersalternate rolling and receiving. The receiving player starts in a fieldingposition—feet spread and knees bent with glove on the ground and out in front. The first roll should be directly at the gloveat a moderate pace. Then rolls should vary speeds and locations between front-and back-hand.
4-BAG TAG
Place one player at each base and equally disperse the rest of your team inlines behind the base. The player at home begins the drill with a throw tothird, who drops a quick tag on the inside of the bag and throws to second. Theaction continues around the bases with players trying to continually increasespeed/intensity. The throwing player should to put the ball ‘on the runner’—low and at the insideedge of the base. This will lead the receiving player to an easy tag. After aplayer throws they will go to the back of the line at the base. Players shouldalternate between one-hand and two-hand tags.
INFIELD TRIANGLE
Place players in a triangle 30-40 feet apart (or at basepath depth, depending onage). There should be a second player behind each point. The player at the firstpoint (‘home’) throws a groundball to the second point who fields the ball andthrows to the ‘first baseman’ at the third point who throws back home. Theplayer at home puts down a quick tag. Each player follows their throw to thenext point, and the next player at each point steps in to keep the drill incontinuous action.
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The central idea of this content is providing 4 essential infield defense drills to keep baseball team engaged and improve their skills.
