By: Dennis Lindsey (Olathe, KS)
I am a 41-year-old dad that has an oldest son that is now 15, and is a 9th grader here in Olathe, Kansas. He has spent the last 6 years playing baseball, and probably the last 4 years in what we call a tournament division level of play. I also have two more sons ages 10 and 7, and they both play and at this time still like baseball.
I have been the head coach of my oldest son’s team for the last 3 years, and the simple reason I got involved is that I was disappointed in how some of his coaches were preparing him and his teammates for games. I cannot tell you how many times I saw kids get a ball hit to them, and have absolutely no idea what to do with them.
I did not see any of his coaches running drills, which I call for lack of a better word "situation drills." When I grew up, this was one of the most enjoyable drills that we ever did because everyone gets involved – coaches and players.
The Drill:
Very simple, you have a player in all of the defensive positions (sometimes we put a player at pitcher, sometimes we do not), and then we use the rest of the players to run the bases. In come cases, we have actually utilized dads to run the bases also. It all depends on what you need to work on, the number of kids at practice, etc.
So, let us say we have three runners, four are preferred so that all bases can be occupied and still have a batter. All base runners will start the drill at home plate, as if they were the batter.
We have a coach at home plate yell out the situation – example, one out, nobody on base, top of the first, score 0-0. He then hits the ball, anywhere he chooses, then one of the runners take off from home as if he had hit the ball. The defensive players (hopefully) make the appropriate play and the drill continues. If the batter is thrown out as he runs to first, we may or may not leave him on that base for the next situation.
We then continue this drill with the remaining base runners. Done correctly, the base runners will get very tired within 10 minutes after starting this drill. We then rotate the kids both in new defensive positions and rotate them in as base runners.
If you have enough coaches, you can assign coaches to be outfield, left side of the infield, right side of the infield, even a coach to work with the catcher, etc. Each situation is different in baseball. Kids have to be taught what to do in possibly every situation. They need to anticipate what happens if they are in a particular position and situation during a game. If you have enough coaches, they can help see that all players are moving with every hit of the ball. Even the base runners need to be observed and coached, as they advance, or choose not to advance.
Conclusion:
There are many aspects to this drill that I have always enjoyed:
You cannot spend too much time preparing ball players for all situations.
Most of the time, every player wants to be a base runner. They love the chance to run, take another base, challenge the defensive players, etc.
The base runners are doing conditioning drills, whether they recognize it or not.
The defensive positions learn to move with every pitch with every hit. No position stands still at any point during the game. Teaching this fundamental is huge.
Rotating players from defensive positions allows each player to play the different positions that they may play during a game.
Allowing players the chance to be a base runner – allows them the chance to improve their base running skills.
Again, this is simple, yet I firmly believe it is one of the best drills to teach players about the fundamentals of baseball.
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