Baseball Practice Planning

Efficient practice planning begins, for me, by creating a template of what I want to accomplish in each practice. I divide practice up into segments and have core drills to choose from for each segment. I've used this practice template with squads that number between 12-18 players.

Practice Segments:

Warm Up-Stays pretty consistent throughout the season

• Light jog


• Stretching routine
  


• Throwing routine
  
  

Individual Defense

• Hold Runners/Moves to bases
  


• Four line ground balls
  


• Outfield Work - throwing position, playing the fence, getting a jump, playing the ground ball, etc.
  


• Infield Position Break down - catchers, middle infielders, first basemen
  

Choose two drills to work on in the practice.

Team Defense

• Relay/Redirect-specific work and cut off and relay situations, concentrating on throwing out the lead runner and keeping trailing runners from advancing.
  


• Fly ball communication- infielders and outfielders communicating on fly balls. Focus on tougher plays in short left, right, and center and on pop ups up the lines.
  


• 21 outs- the team must convert into an out 21 consecutive plays off the fungo. Any error resets the drill to zero.
  


• Bunt defense-play live with the outfielders serving as bunters and baserunners. A reliable batting practice pitcher can throw strikes from 50' with the live pitcher standing behind the BP pitcher ready to play defense.
  


• First and third defense-outfielders act as baserunners. They can run your first and third offense or your upcoming opponent's know first and third tendencies.
  

Choose 2-3 drills to work on in the practice, keeping in mind the number of throws players will need to make.

Bat Control Skills/Specific Team Offense Situations

• Three group (hitters, runners, shaggers) hit and run drill- used primarily early in the season to teach the hit and run, and at any time throughout the season to review and refocus on the fundamentals of the runner glancing in and the hitter getting the ball on the ground.
  


• Bunt offense
  


• First and third offense
  


• Concentrated situation hitting- two strike hitting, advance runner from second to third with nobody out, and score the runner from third with less than two outs.
  

Choose drills based on the need for the day.


Batting Practice/Team Offense

• Station Hitting-limited only by space, equipment, and available coaches. Possible stations include: soft toss drills, batting range, bunt station, on field hitting, shaggers, pepper. Each hitter finishes his round by sprinting to first base and becoming a baserunner. The next hitter executes a bunt, the runner reacts properly for 3 steps and returns to first. The hitter and runner now execute a hit and run. The runner reacts properly to the hit and run, then moves to third. With the runner now at third, the hitter and runner execute a squeeze play. Hitters then hit 8 balls fair, plus 1 extra fair ball for each properly executed bunt, hit and run, and squeeze for a possible total of 11 balls hit into fair territory. This time in practice can be used for pitchers to get their bullpen work done or for coaches to get in individual work with specific players.
  


• Live batting practice scrimmage- live offense and defense with a batting practice pitcher on the mound.
  


• Live scrimmage- live offense, defense, and pitching. I usually only use this early in the season to see how the pitchers will react to live hitters.
  

Pick one drilll for the day


Win the game drill

• The whole team participates in this end of practice drill and everybody gets one chance to win the game. Possible drills include:
  

• Squeeze play
  


• Runner on third less than two outs
  


• Runner on second, two out- get a basehit to win the game.
  
• Tough play for the third out-full defense on the field, the coach hits tough plays off the fungo bat in a simulated two outs, one run lead, last inning scenario.
  

Pick one win the game drill for the end of practice.


Conditioning

• Run the bases
  


• Foul poles
  

The time spent on each segment is flexible based on the team's needs for the practice. Practicing for the tendencies of an upcoming opponent will often require more time to be spent on the individual and team defense segments. I also always have the defense segments first to make sure the team realizes defense is a priority, and the players know if we run out of time because of inattention or sloppy play, batting practice (the fun time) gets cut short.

Intangible Scrimmage

Intangible Scrimmage for Baseball


Not a creative name, but it can be a creative way to maintain effort and concentration during practice when you want your first team to practice as a group. Keeping your first team together as a group has the potential of having everybody lose interest, effort, and concentration because of a large disparity of runs scored between your first and second teams.

However, by changing the way the score is kept and disregarding completing the number of times home plate is touched both groups have incentive to play hard and the ability to "win the game." Team scores are kept by keeping track of both teams ability to execute the mental (concentration, discipline, positioning) and physical effort (hustle) fundamentals of baseball. "Runs" are scored by the correct application of the fundamental or subtracted because of the lack of execution.

The starting point is identifying the fundamentals you want evaluated during practice. The following list includes examples of aspects that can be evaluated. A coach can,obviously, add items that would be unique to their situation. These fundamentals can be executed regardless of a players talent. A player helps the team score "runs" by giving effort and prevent "runs" from being subtracted by just being mentally into the game.



Team Defense:

Outfielders

1. Get behind the routine flyball. (Mental)


2. Call for the flyball. (Mental)


3. Call off the infielder if the outfielder has an easier play. (Mental)


4. Back up each other on balls in the gap. (Mental)


5. Back up the infield properly, according to the play. (Mental)


6. Through to/through the cut off. (Physical/Concentration)


7. Go for the catch. Dive for catches in practice, teach situations when to keep the ball in front at other practice times. (+Effort)
   

1-6: A "run" is subtracted for lack of execution

7 : A "run" is earned for each + effort dive play

Infielders

1. Anticipation step before every pitch. (Mental)


2. Cover the bases, according to the play. (Mental)


3. Back each other up properly, according to the play. (Mental)


4. Use two hands when catching throws. (Concentration)


5. Communicate on pop ups, slow rollers, base coverage, etc. (Mental)


6. Get in front of the ground ball. (Mental/Concentration)


7. Dive for the ball. (+Effort)


8. Block any bad throw in the dirt. First basement can earn a + effort run by saving an infielding and making a pick on a ball in the dirt. (+Effort)

1-6: A "run" is subtracted for lack of execution

7,8: A "run" is earned for a + effort play

Team

1. Three quarter sprint on and off the field between innings. (Effort)
2. Run out every ball that is hit when up to bat.

A "run" is subtracted for lack of execution

There's a multitude of areas that can be evaluated during an intra squad scrimmage. I implemented it by having an assistant coach observe and keep score during the scrimmage. The first time I tried it I told the team that the winner of the scrimmage would not be judged by the number of runners that crossed the plate. After the scrimmage we announced the winner and explained why. My assistant detailed each play that had a run subtracted or added to a teams total. The kids loved it. They asked to do the intangible scrimmage many times after that day. I think part of it might have been being acknowledged for doing "the little things." The level of play and intensity went way up in practices. Unfortunately, I didn't incorporate this until late in the season, but I do feel it did carry over into games.

Getting Started

As a middle school football coach (grades 7&8) and a varsity baseball coach, I intend to address the issues that go along with coaching young athletes and preparing them for competitions. Each sport and age group has its own unique challenges and joys. For example, how do you prepare middle school boys and girls too for that matter, who have not been in pads before, to play in a game after only being in pads for 5 days. A challenge faced yearly in my current position.



I'm looking for ideas that have worked for other coaches and, hopefully, add ideas that other coaches will find useful.