Baseball Pop up Drill – Pop Up of Death

Judd sent this one to me last week. A great example of a baseball pop up drill that doesn’t require a coaching PhD to figure out.

From Judd…
We usually finish off baseball practice with this one. It is designed to teach the players how to judge pop-ups and the proper way of

letting every one know that you are going to “call” it. It’s called simply the pop-up drill (although my youngest daughter sometimes

refers to it as the “pop-up of death” drill).

I have the whole team gather around me in a loose group-stretching their arms out so that they are at least arms length away from all

the other players. I then randomly throw the ball up in the air.

The players then have to decide if it is one that they can catch and then “call for it”. They are awarded points for “calling” for

the ball loudly, making the catch or stepping back to allow someone else who has called the ball to make the catch.

The first player to 10 points get to sit down. This continues with me alternating where I throw the ball until everyone has reached

10 points. The player who finishes last then has to run the bases while the rest of the team cheers loudly for him, and some times

even chase him around the bases.

This teaches them to judge pop-ups, take control of a fly ball, as well as avoid collisions with other fielders. My kids love

this-especially the ritual of chasing the last one around the bases. Hope this will be helpful. So far I am really loving some of the

drills that I am seeing-especially the ones that become games and contests. I find that my players much prefer these kinds of drills.

Baseball Practice Drill – Throwing Drill

I find that the traditional drills for official little league baseball can get a bit stale. Here’s a baseball drill from Sam that

livens things up quite a bit in practices.

From Sam…
Here’s one my throwing drills:

Have the team line up in a straight line say 4 on each line, about 25-35 feet apart.
With the ball starting at one end turning properly (glove side) step and throw properly to the partner behind them till the ball gets

to the end.

Then back up 40-50 feet or whatever you’d like to work on.

After throwing the ball in this direction start the ball on the other end and throw in the other direction. The player on the end

must catch the ball turn and make a tag then come up throwing to the next player continuing the throwing down and back the line

racing against the other lines.

Winner doesn’t have to run sprints, bases or whatever way to reward them. Then next practice switch partners in different lines.

Baseball Fielding Drills

William and Clint came up with some great suggestions covering baseball fielding drills. Keep ‘em coming!

From William…
For this time of year, we practice inside. I use the wall drill for my outfielders. I have my six outfielders stand in two rows, 3

in each row, about 5 feet a part. They turn their backs to the wall, I throw the ball against the wall and I yell “GO”. All the

fielders turn around and the fielder closest to the ball yells “Mine” and make the catch.

From Clint…
We have a ground ball baseball drill that we love.

You make three lines and need three coaches.
The first coach throws a ground ball to the left and the fielder must shuffle to the left catch the throw back to the coach.

Then the fielder goes to the next line where that coach throws to the right.

Then the fielder goes to the next line where that coach throws a fly ball.

All coaches do this continuously and the fielders keep switch lines.

This drill works on moving the feet properly to catch any ball and to make good throws.