Archive for the ‘Baseball Training’ category

Indoor Baseball Practice Ideas

August 5th, 2011

Indoors practice for baseball though doesn’t sound fun, it can actually be effective just like outdoor practice. There are many indoor baseball practice ideas that one can make use of. A nearby indoor baseball facility should be used for the purpose of practicing. The indoor environment doesn’t provide the freedom that one enjoys (hitting, throwing) in the outdoors. It is however, possible to make the indoor baseball drills interesting and also effective with the help of our imagination. The article presents some useful ideas for practicing in an indoor environment.

Practice Ideas for Indoor Baseball

Here are few of the effective ideas for practicing baseball indoors. The drills for batting, pitching and fielding are presented in the paragraphs below.

Pitching
The pitching activity is an important part of the game of baseball. It is possible to master the pitching activity by regular practice. Controlling the path (curve, height) of ball is the essence of pitching; indoor practice should allow for honing the pitching skills without any problems. The portable indoor mounds are used for pitching practice in the indoor environment. These mounds serve the purpose of offering an elevated position, similar to that on a baseball field. The distance between home plate and pitching mound should be that of 60 feet and 6 inches for the pitching drills to be effective. A home plate made of rubber should be used and catcher positioned behind this plate. The practice sessions for pitching should be conducted twice or thrice a week. The pitch count of around 150 in a week should provide enough practice to the players. The 150 pitches should be distributed equally in 2 or 3 sessions a week. This indoor baseball practice schedule for pitching should help in improving this vital skill.

Batting
The equipments needed for batting practice in an indoor environment include the pitching machine and indoor cage. Use of indoor cage is as effective as practicing in an outdoor environment. It is possible to study and improve the skills of swinging the bat through this exercise. A batter should be allowed to take 15-20 swings at a stretch. » Read more: Indoor Baseball Practice Ideas

Baseball Tryout Drills

August 3rd, 2011

During baseball tryout season, a coach is not only excited but has the responsibility of getting players selected for the team. It is necessary to determine which players excel in hitting, throwing, running, and catching, all these elements make up a strong team. But the baseball tryout drills given in this article doesn’t just help build a strong team. In fact, you also get an opportunity to gain knowledge about each player’s maximum potential. Every player has his/her strength and weakness, and as a coach, you need to be able to evaluate it on the basis on effective drills. For a player, excelling in these drills can be the difference between making the team or missing out. Which is why, before the team is selected, try these drills and find out which player will make the team.

Youth Baseball Tryout Drills

In baseball, there are certain skills upon which a player has to be judged. These areas are – hitting (batting), base-running, fielding, and throwing (pitching). Keeping this in mind, a coach requires to implement these tryout drills and assess the players.

Tryout Drill I – Hitting
While batting, a player has to wait for a good pitch that can give him/her either a home run or the chance to get on the bases. And as luck would have it, not every ball is going to give you a home run. During tryouts, a player’s responsibility is to hit the ball with as much power as he/she can.

  • Warm up is necessary before any and all tryouts.
  • To warm up, have players swing baseballs on the batting tee.
  • After this, have each player step inside the batting cage one after the other and hit 10 balls in a row. » Read more: Baseball Tryout Drills