Basic Team Fielding Drills

Criss – Cross Drill

You will need 4 adults for this drill, 2 coaches hitting and two catching beside them. Have your team split in half, with a group playing shortstop and a group playing in second base position. Position your coaches about 10-15 feet up the line from home. Coach on the first base side hits grounders to the player at shortstop who throws to the coach standing next to him. Coach on the third base side hits grounders to the player at second base who throws to the coach standing next to him. After each ball the player moves to the back of the line. This drill allows for a high repetition of grounders and throws across the infield. If you have enough dads to catch/hit, it’s ideal for one coach to rotate between the two lines and discuss good/bad fielding technique.

“FOLLOW” Drill

Put a player at every infield position except Pitcher (catcher does not need to wear any gear). Have the rest of the team line up in the grass behind the shortstop. Place 3 balls behind 1st, 2nd and 3rd base. One coach (standing just up the first base line from the left hand batters box) starts the drill by hitting a grounder to the shortstop. Shortstop takes the grounder and throws to first base. First baseman takes the throw and throws to the 2nd baseman covering the 2B bag. After each throw is made, the player follows his throw to his new position (SS to 1B, 1B to 2B, 2B to 3B, 3B to C). Once the ball is thrown from 2B to 3B and the fielder runs past the next SS (from the line in the grass), the coach can hit the next ball to SS. A couple of things to work on are the fielders making a “swipe” tag at every base except 1B to practice getting a runner out. Also the extra balls by the bag are to use if an errant throw is made (vs chasing after the ball). The idea of the drill is to encourage fast accurate throws mirror situations in a game where you may try to throw out a baserunner that is picked off base. The last key is to make sure that the catchers run back to the line staying well outside of the baseline so they are not in the way of an incoming throw.

Relay Throwing Drill

You can put the entire team through this drill or just partial if you are breaking into groups. You will need teams of 3 for this drill. Depending on the kids age, you will place one member of the team in LF, one in CF and one in RF. First group is very deep about 15 feet from the fence. The next group is about 15 feet closer in and so forth. The drill focuses on long relay throws from the LF to the CF to the RF and back. All players should work on accuracy. During the portion when a kid is in CF, you work with them in proper positioning to catch the ball and make an immediate throw to the other outfielder (for a right hander, their right shoulder should be facing the incoming ball with their left glove hand up to catch it by their right shoulder, this allows them to make a quick transfer and step immediately toward their target. Most kids will start by doing the opposite and thus turning 270 degrees to make the relay throw.) It’s often effective to have one or two coaches near the CF groups to work on this relay positioning. With the LF and RF focus on making a tag when they catch the ball. Switch up positions every 3-4 minutes depending on how long you have to work on this drill.