All across the country, lights are coming on and staying on deeper and deeper into the night as high schools, middle schools and Little League’s are preparing for the upcoming baseball season. It’s like Christmas, really.
Early on in practice, as a coach or player, the tendency is to try and do too much. Defense needs fine tuned. Can that new kid play shortstop? Bunt coverages need to be drilled. When can we do first-third coverages. Our cuts and relays have to be better than last year. Wait, what about batting practice? We have been inside all this time, we need to get some cuts on the field.
Don’t worry and, please, don’t take the last paragraph serious. One thing to remember is that every team in your league, whether it be a high school district or a local Little League, is in the same boat as you. Everyone deals with the same weather and the same basic obstacles. The idea is to plan and not overwhelm your players, especially at the younger levels.
Sit down at night with a pen and paper, or more accordingly for today’s age a computer, and make a plan. Make a long term plan and a short tremble prepared to make adjustments to it and, most importantly, execute it!
Long term
Before you have your very first practice, make a season long master plan for how you want to conduct practices. How will each practice begin? What do you want to teach on the first day, second day, third day, etc. after the first five days or so, make the additional time a weekly plan, because its obviously subject to change once you see what your team is good at, what it is sorta good at and what it really needs help with.
For example, at the high school level, a long term plan might look like this:
Day 1-
*Team stretches (20 minutes)
*Team throwing progressions (45,60,90,120,200 feet) (20 minutes)
*Quick hands, quick feet drills (5 minutes)
*Run down drills (10 minutes)
*Individual period (30 minutes)
– infielders with infield coach- stationary ball drills, short ground ball drills, short hop drills, fly ball drills in the hole, round of infield)
-outfielders with outfield coach- read ball drill, communications drill, find the fence drill, set up and catch drill, do or die throwing drill, catch fungo fly balls)
-catchers with catchers coach- mirror drill, back hand flip drill, bare hand frame drill, glove on, short frames, sit and get hit blocking drills, short blocks, short frame/blocks, catch and transfer drills.
*Team defense- cuts and relays (30 minutes)
*Bunt defense- install coverages with only a few live reps each (30 minutes.
*Conditioning- 10, 30 yard sprints, ab circuit (15 minutes
Clean up and go home
Total time – 2:45
That’s not too long of a practice for day one. Notice a lot of things weren’t covered: first-third coverages, pitcher fielding practice, fly-ball communication, etc. but it is a start. The key is to stick very close to the schedule, and if you are up against time to be done with a certain area, make a mental note of where you left off and keep going. The more you move and keep bungs fresh, the more attentive players tend to be. If you do get behind, things like conditioning at the end can be cut back or cutout altogether. Don’t make it a habit, though.
Day 2:
*Team stretches (20 minutes)
*Team throwing progressions (20 minutes)
*Quick hands/quick feet drills (5 minutes)
*Run down drills (5 minutes)
*Individual period (25 minutes)
-same basic drills as day one
*Biggest problem from day one that needs refreshing or reworked (10 minutes)
*Set up for batting practice (10 minutes)
*Take batting practice (1:10)
-split team into groups of six, each group hits 10 minutes, rotating on five pitches. One round could be bunts, next straight baseballs, next outside baseballs, final round meat pitches. If time is short cut the last round. Pitchers throw bullpens during BP)
*Clean up
Total time- 2:45
Day 3:
Team stretches (20 minutes)
Team throwing progressions (20 minutes)
Quick hands/quick feet drills (5 minutes)
Run down drills (5 minutes)
PFPs (pitcher fielding practice, 30 minutes) (non pitchers take fungi fly balls in the outfield or ground balls on infield from assistant coach except catchers, they are needed for PFPs.)
-play the bunt, first base line
-play the bunt, third base line
-come backers, easy, make throw to first
-come backers, hard, make throw to first
-cover first base on ball hit to first, used first baseman and live grounders
-double play turns on come backers
*Team defense: fly ball communication (20 minutes)
*First and third coverages (30 minutes)
-install the basics with few reps
*Conditioning (15 minutes)
Total time: 2:25
Day 4:
*Team stretches (20 minutes)
*Throwing progressions (20 minutes
*Quick hands/quick feet drills (5 minutes)
*Run down drills (5 minutes)
*Team intra-squad (2 hours)
-Each pitcher on a one inning or 30 pitch limit (assuming all pitchers have gone through throwing program in the offseason leading up to practice)
Total time: 2:50
Day 5:
*Team stretches (20 minutes)
*Team throwing progressions (10 minutes, light on sore arms after scrimmage)
*Bunt defense (20 minutes, use outfielders as runners and alternate pitchers)
*First/third defense (20 minutes, alternate pitchers on the mound)
*Conditioning (20 minutes)
Total time: 1:30
Day 6:
Team scrimmage vs. opponent
Top pitchers on 45 pitch count or two innings, whichever comes first.
Day 7:
Day off
Week 2:
*Start the week with batting practice and be sure to have one good day dedicated to team defense and then have team defense vs. live hitting (controlled scrimmage)
Week 3:
*Start week with heavy emphasis on bunt and first/third coverages. Spend a day on all base running in all situations. Spend day emphasizing bunts during BP, including squeeze and safety squeeze plays.
Week 4:
*Hold intra-squad or team scrimmages early in the week. Make sure pitchers have pitch count stretched to 70-80 range. Fine tune individual drills this week. Also fine tune team defense and pitcher fielding practice.
Week 5
Games start.
The short term plans are mixed in there – such as the individual day schedules. As each day approaches you will have to add and subtract to those due to weather and such.
At younger levels, such as Little League, it is probably best to start early with very basic fundamentals on defense. Fielding ground balls, fly balls, basic throwing and catching properly and whiffle ball hitting with a heavy emphasis on hitting.
As far as the drills listed in this post, we will explain those in depth as posts continue go up.
Remember, these are your plans, change them and tweak them how you please. But have a general plan- don’t just show up at the field and wing it. And remember, if everything isn’t perfect by the first game, that’s ok, baseball at the college level and down is a tournament sport.
Save your best ball for the end!
Finishing 5-0 when it counts is much better than starting 5-0 and fading late.
Happy baseball season!