This drll covers much more than just infield

By: Ron Bing, Puritas League, Cleveland, Ohio
Date: August 31, 1998 at 09:40

This drill is great. It covers base running, lead offs, fielding, relay throws, pick off moves, rundowns, fly balls, even slidding if you want, etc. You can practice everything except stolen bases. You can even turn it into a competion by seeing which group scores more runs. I would let each group run for three sets of three outs. After the third out each time, remove any runners who are on base and start again.

Position your fielders, including a catcher and pitcher. Take four other boys and they are your first group of runners. A coach who has good bat control stands off to the side of the plate with a bat and ball in his hands. The four runners line up on the other side of the plate, but not so close as to get hit by an errant pitch. Make sure they don't start running until after the ball is hit, and don't let them keep inching their way up the line as they are prone to do! Base runners take their normal lead off, but cannot run until after the ball has been hit. Pitcher can try and pick them off.

The pitcher makes his delivery to the plate(good pitches as this is also a pitching practice), the coach than hits a ball out of his hand, and the "batter" runs as if he has just hit the pitch. That is all there is to this drill, yet you can see how it opens up countless oppurtunities for practing all, or a few select areas you want to work on. Double to the left field fence - is the shortstop lining up the throw with third, or did he just run out there and line it up with second? Did the pitcher cover a base after the hit? Did the runner round first properly? Did the infielders communicate with each other while the ball was in play? Did the throw come to the correct man or base? Did the runner know how many outs there were? Was the third baseman in the proper position to apply the tag? As I said earlier, you can work on as much or as little as you like. Have a coach at first and third to direct the runners, and the coach hitting the ball can observe the fielders.