Wall Ball Hitting Drill

This drill is actually a hitting game that allows players to build skills, learn to perform under pressure, identify strikes, and develop a line drive swing.

Teams of 2 or 3 players compete against other teams. The first team to score 11 runs wins. The drill can be used indoors or outdoors. The games requires a wall, curtain, or sections of fence. The rules are outlined before competition begins. The wall or fence should have a “top line” that represents the top of the scoring zone. Any ball that hits the wall, curtain, or fence above that line is an “out”. To score, the batter must hit a line drive that hits the scoring zone without touching the ground. The batter that hits a ground ball keeps the inning alive. He does not score, but he also does not make an out. Each player gets only one swing per bat. He is either going to hit a score, hit a ground ball or make an out. Any ball that is caught by the defense before it touches the wall or ground is an out. All pop ups, foul balls, and missed swings are counted as outs. Bats are not allowed to touch the ground. Batters must stay alert and jump in to bat as soon as the other batter swings. Each team gets 3 outs per at bat. Defensive players are allowed to “knock down” balls to prevent scoring. Any ball that hits the “scoring zone” without touching the ground is a score. The defense must learn to react quickly and catch the ball or knock it down.

This drill is best done in a tournament format. Reward the winning team in some way. This is a great drill for indoor hitting. Players get to take a lot of swings. The competition becomes fierce. It will build a competitive fire in your timid players, and teach players to be aggressive. Make sure to use foam or wiffle baseballs.

Using Off Season Baseball Workouts to Their Fullest Extent

As with any sort of athlete, baseball players can never truly relax; they have to work at keeping themselves always in shape. Even when not playing the game regularly, there is the need to stay fit; otherwise, you run the risk of losing all the strength, flexibility, body control, and so on that you’ve worked so hard to build up. So, off season baseball workouts can help you do just that.

Targeting Areas

In baseball, the arms and upper body are most critical. This is where the strength to hurl the ball and swing the bat comes from, and do both accurately. That’s what separates baseball from mere body building; brute strength isn’t enough. So, set up a program of exercises that you can do three times a week, and be sure to rest at least a full day between each session.

A Typical Program

This is by no means the best of only of the off season baseball workouts, but it’ll give you an idea of what to make use of in your routine. First, for the legs, do three sets of squats, leg curls, and leg extensions. With the squats, do ten to twelve reps; with the other two, twelve to fifteen is good. Next, for the chest, a basic barbell bench press is good. Do four sets, and gradually step down the reps. A typical pattern is twelve, ten, eight, and then six. For your back, a bent over barbell row is god, and you do the same number of reps as for the chest. In terms of reps, a fifteen, twelve, ten and eight pattern is fine.

As the arms are vitally important, you’ll want to do several exercises to target them. First, for the traps (trapezius), a dumbbell shrug is ideal. Be sure to not use too much weight; you may want to check with a trainer first in order to get a proper weight range set up. Then, do three sets, and use twelve, ten and six reps. To work your triceps, a lying tricep extension is perfect. Do three sets, and do ten, eight and eight for the reps. With the biceps, a standing barbell curl will keep those muscles firm and toned. So, do three sets, and follow the same rep cycle as the triceps. The forearms are a critical aspect of baseball playing; so a barbell wrist curl will help keep those muscles fit. But, you also don’t want to over do it; so, only doing two sets of fifteen reps each is best. If the forearms gets too “bulked up”, you’ll lose some of your flexibility and dexterity, and these are critical to playing baseball. Finally, decline sit ups are ideal for working your abs. do three sets of them, and twenty to twenty-five reps each time.

Words of Warning

As stated above, use one of the off season baseball workouts three times a week, and rest for at least a day between each session. This is important; your body builds up its strength during the recovery phase between workouts. If you exercises too often – say, every day – your muscles will end up getting injured, not improved. Next, follow the motto: “Train, not Strain”. Many people push themselves to their absolute limit, and even beyond it and get hurt; they feel that’s how to build up their muscles quickly. It isn’t; it’s a recipe for disaster. Any of the good off season baseball workouts will stress keeping the level of your efforts reasonable – especially as concerns your arms. Damaging or tearing muscles and/or ligaments can result in you being unable to play baseball (or anything else); so always exercise with care.

A Must Read For Youth Baseball Coaches

Effective Practicing – Have a Plan!

Coaches would be pulling their hair out if they had to try to come up with
something off the top of their head every practice, and keep everyone on the field
happy and into learning the game of baseball. One of the best ways to run a
smooth practice that teaches skills and provides kids with an enjoyable
experience is to have a practice plan.
Coming into the practice with a script for how things should run is a great way to
take the pressure off you and your coaching staff and provide your players with
constant instruction and interaction. In this chapter, we have provided you 25
different practice plans that will address different areas of the game of baseball.
You will notice many of the drills that we have talked about in this book included
in the practice plans. These drills can be shaped and modified to suit your teams
needs. The practice plans are also just a guideline for you. Once you go through
a few of the practice plans, you are probably going to pick a few that you like the
best and go with those.
However you choose to use them, we hope that they come in handy when you
teach your players the game of baseball.

Here are a few tips to running a good practice:

1. Have a plan
2. Instruct the players on all techniques involved in a drill
3. Include fun things like competitions or games to break up constant
   instruction – after all, they should have fun!
4. Don’t criticize – INSTRUCT. Players respond much better to
   instruction than they do to ridicule and criticism.
5. Keep the practice flowing, but include time for warm up, warm down
   and a few breaks for water.
6. Run different stations that build on player skills. This gives kids
   more repetition and increases skill set.

Note: The practice plans are geared towards the intermediate and advanced
baseball player. You can insert the T-ball drills where you see fit.

Note: To run stations, use two of the practice plans at one practice, one for
hitting and another for fielding skills. You will give the players more repetition.