By: Scott Moore
Fielding, throwing, conditioning, and hustle! This drill has it
all! We start by positioning a player at home, one at first (on the
base), one at second (on the base), and the rest of the players lined
up at third base, in the third base position. Two baseballs are used.
The coach starts the drill by hitting a ground ball to the first player
up at third. He fields it, then makes a throw to the player at second.
As soon as he throws it, he has to sprint to second and the player in
line behind him steps up into the position at third. When the player at
second catches the ball, he promptly fires it to first and sprints to
first. The player at first catches the ball, fires it home, then
sprints to home. The player at home catches the ball and flips it to
the coach, who by this time has already hit the second ball to the next
player in line. This is a very fast drill that requires/teaches the
players to do the following:
- Field the ball at third.
- Make a good throw from
all spots, with the emphasis being on accuracy, crispness of the throw,
and getting the feet set. Because they run after they field or catch
the ball, many have a tendency to try and throw on the run, which is a
no-no.
- Hustle! Players must hustle. As the coach hitting the
ball, you control the speed of the drill—not the players. Make it fair
but make them hustle.
- Teamwork. The players must work
together to accomplish this drill. If one player falls off, then it can
disrupt the entire drill.
- Conditioning. This is a “fun” way to get some conditioning in while accomplishing other goals.
We typically will set a goal of one or two successful rounds where
we finish with the same player at home who started the drill at home.
Any bad throw, missed ball, etc., that disrupts the drill will cause
the drill to start over again.
top