- Baseball is a Game of Movement -

Day 4

(-0:10-0:00)    Pre-practice

Whiffle Ball Batting:  1) ‘See Ball, Turn Back’   2) Timing: “Pitch” - “Hit”

 

0:00-0:15           

Skill Building Warm-up

  1. Outfield Backing-up

  2. First Baseman Receiving a Throw from ‘Shortstop’ …coach making the throw from 30’

  3. Infield Base Coverage  - ‘Cover Base w/Eyes’

 

 

0:15-0:35   (During this segment, be conscious of the fact that we want to shorten it to 15 mins in the future)

Playing Catch Practice

1. ‘No Bat’ Drills

Teach: Heel-Knee

  • Drill: Switch Heels (Heel-Knee)

  • Drill: Elbow Drive (holding center of bat) -- Reminder: Elbow, then Wrist

 Teach: Sideways Karate Chop (Elbow-Wrist)

  • Drill: Sideways Karate Chop (Elbow-Wrist) 

2. ‘No Ball’ Drills

  • Drive & Pull (the upper arm and torso move as one piece)

  • Wrist Action

  • Drive & Snap (arm remains at shoulder height following Wrist Snap)

  • Shuffle, Shuffle, Pull-Snap

 

3. Play Catch from 25’-35’ for a couple mins (Slow-Medium; focus on upper arm and torso working as ‘one piece’), then move back to 50’ (Medium-Fast).

 

4. ‘1-6’ Footwork and Throw (Medium-Fast) 30’-35’

 

  

0:35-0:55

Review: Ball, Base, Back-up (BBB)

Teach: 3 Players in the Middle of the Field (SS, 2b & P) Always move towards the ball

Teach: Pitcher is the ‘Runner’ (Consider eliminating the term ‘Pitcher’; the kids don’t pitch.  Let’s call the player positioned in the middle of the infield the ‘Runner’, because that is what they do when they don’t field the ball - Run!)

                                                             

Drill: Three Groups                                                         

  1. 6-1 (Underhand Toss) 3b Backing-up

  2. 1-6 (Turn Glove Side) …CF backing up

  3. 4-3 (Ball to Their Right … OH Throw: ’Feet & Wrist’) …Pitcher/Runner backing up; run behind bucket (representing the base runner) —- 2 players @ 2b; 2 players @ 1b (‘Cover Base w/Eyes’)

 

0:55-1:00            <Break>

 

1:00-1:30           

Batting Practice* / Fielding (2 Groups of 6)

 

15 min                                         Group 1: Batting

                                                     Group 2: Coach’s Choice.  Pick a drill(s) from ‘Three Groups’ above

15 min                                         Switch Groups

 

 

* Whiffle Ball Batting (this group works in the outfield)

‘See Ball, Turn Back’ focus prior to Each swing (the kids Must make this a habit)

 

Timing: (1) “Pitch” - “Hit”     Actions:  (2) Switch Heels (Heel-Knee)   (3) Sideways Karate Chop

 

[Coach(es) determine one of the above 3 points for each given player to focus on during their swing]

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