how to run an efficient practice

[DerekD]

LL Major Division

We're practicing 3-4 times a week now until games start. We obviously need to work on everything. Last night, I had hitters facing our best pitchers. I had a coach working with batters while I was working with the pitchers. I had another guy working with the defense as the balls were hit. I think this would work out pretty well except that the hitters weren't having much success.

For our next practice, I'm going to break it down into at least 3 hitting stations maybe. I'll work with some pitchers some more. Then we'll spend a little more time with baserunning and some situational defensive plays with me hitting or throwing a ball around.

My question is this. How do you all run a efficient practice where the kids are facing live pitching? Hitting drills/stations are good but they still need the real deal.

[hawkiirock]

live pitching is essential IMO but it is very time consuming. You can still break up into groups and do other stations
Last practice i divided into groups of 3(every kid on the team pitches just so no one kid gets overused). I would have one kid pitch live, one kid pich "bullpen" and one field. Another group of 3 were hitting. One of those would run bases/practice leading off etc.

So the live pitcher would throw his pitch count, than field, than bullpen. so there would be a break kinda like a real game.

3 others helped field. The last group took ground balls and fly balls away from the action.

[Jake Patterson]

LL Major Division

We're practicing 3-4 times a week now until games start. We obviously need to work on everything. Last night, I had hitters facing our best pitchers. I had a coach working with batters while I was working with the pitchers. I had another guy working with the defense as the balls were hit. I think this would work out pretty well except that the hitters weren't having much success.

For our next practice, I'm going to break it down into at least 3 hitting stations maybe. I'll work with some pitchers some more. Then we'll spend a little more time with baserunning and some situational defensive plays with me hitting or throwing a ball around.

My question is this. How do you all run a efficient practice where the kids are facing live pitching? Hitting drills/stations are good but they still need the real deal.

I rotate my pitchers through throwing no more than 15-30 pitches. I also do not let them through full speed. If necessary I will move our portable mound closer to simulate live speed. If you do this make certain you have a screen infront of your pitcher. This is also a good place to try new pitchers.

The down side is you want to keep the practice moving... several items here- Have a coach stand off to the side (Usually around first or third protected by a screen, hitting balls to the OF and far side infield. When I do this I practice fly balls, dead balls on the fence, grounders -no one one-no threat of advancing, grounders-runners on and grounders-do or dies. Set up a bucket at cut off depth and have the bucket practice how to set up for cuts. You can also set the OF out further and practice relays.

While on deck I have two stations - 5 batters. Station 1 Long (Rotation) stick(one person hold a target ball the other uses the stick to practice good rotation), Station 2 - a hitting stick(One person holds the stick while the other hits)- one person on deck. I never throw more than 10 pitches to a hitter and correct all problems off-line.

Hope this helps.
Jake
1.

[SimiBaseball]

I'm assuming you are just starting out with your pre-season practices. There isn't much value to "live" pitching and hitting at this point if it means that everyone is mostly standing around. There are too many things to cover and not enough time to cover them. Start with a checklist of specific things to cover then map out all of your practices ahead of time from there. Once you do this you will find that there isn't time to waste.

Save the live pitching/live hitting/live defense scenarios for a scrimmage or two before the season starts. You are better off doing a coach-pitch scrimmage at the end of your practice. Start all the hitters with a 1-1 count and don't get too cute with offspeed pitches, etc. Another live pitching/hitting drill you can do is the 3 and 2 game. The situation is 3 balls 2 strikes, bases loaded. Hitters compete against eachother to see who drives in the most runs in X number of at bats. Pitchers compete against eachother to see who allows the fewest runs. Don't spend more than 30 minutes of your practice on these types of drills.

Use your practice time to perfect team skills that will make the difference over the course of the season:

Baserunning - reading the pitcher, footwork, < 2 out situations, sliding, routes
Footwork around the bag on tag plays
Pickoff plays and sequences
1st and 3rd defense
Rundowns!
Covering home on a passed ball/wild pitch
Middle infield feeds and pivots
Catchers - blocking, backpicks, throwing mechanics/release time
Bunt defense
Pitcher covering 1B on balls hit to the right side
1-6-3, 1-2-3, 9-3 plays
Dropped 3rd strike and infield fly rules
Footwork for going back on balls in the air
Balls hit near the fence
Playing balls in the sun
Outfield routes and angles
Cutoffs and relays
Popups and tweeners (communication and aggressiveness)
Bullpens - mechanics, control drills, secondary pitches
Hitting - reps!
And, most of all: Playing high level catch!

These things need to be worked on over and over. The value of live pitchers facing live hitters with a live defense is greatly diminished if the above areas aren't perfected.

[hawkiirock]

i disagree with simi. Depending on the age group, they need to see more than 1 or 2 live matchups. Everyone can hit off a coach. It takes a bit for some kids to get comfortable to hitting off other kids. Like i said though, age is a factor in this

edit: Not to mention the pitchers need to see live batters as well to get feedback and comfort on the mound. Cant be reproduced in the bullpen IMO and needs to be more than 1-2 times b4 first tourney

[hawkiirock]

i do agree with this part. We have 1-2 practices per week solely focusing on those key elements.. Unfortunately the cold and rain has prevented us from practicing much this year and our first tourney is 10 days away

This is the 3rd year together with this group though so they are very fundamentally sound and it allows us to take care of the other area




And, most of all: Playing high level catch!

These things need to be worked on over and over. The value of live pitchers facing live hitters with a live defense is greatly diminished if the above areas aren't perfected.[/QUOTE]

[Thor]

Bunt

Jake's sequence is a good one. I'd just add this: (1) all hitters must learn to bunt, so mix in that station and (2) face live hitting. The better the pitchers, the better for your players. If your players can hit your pitchers, then in theory they should be able to hit most other pitching staffs. I also get pitchers from the next age group to throw to your guys or get ex ball player dads pitchers to throw.

[MSandman]

i disagree with simi. Depending on the age group, they need to see more than 1 or 2 live matchups. Everyone can hit off a coach. It takes a bit for some kids to get comfortable to hitting off other kids. Like i said though, age is a factor in this

edit: Not to mention the pitchers need to see live batters as well to get feedback and comfort on the mound. Cant be reproduced in the bullpen IMO and needs to be more than 1-2 times b4 first tourney

Just another opinion, but... our LL team hardly ever did kid-pitch during the first couple weeks of practices. About a week before the season tho, we'd schedule a couple scrimmages w/ other teams in our league. This seemed to be a good balance because we scored the most runs in the league 4 yrs in a row, came in 2nd 3 of 4 of those years, won a playoff championship and based on comments from opposing coaches, were widely considered to be the best hitting team every year.

YMMV.

[hawkiirock]

definitely YMMV. I dont put much into LL teams around here. Each team has a few good hitters. The team that gets the 2 best pitchers wins

This is the 3rd year we have the same team so they have a very good grasp on the fundamentals.

Just another opinion, but... our LL team hardly ever did kid-pitch during the first couple weeks of practices. About a week before the season tho, we'd schedule a couple scrimmages w/ other teams in our league. This seemed to be a good balance because we scored the most runs in the league 4 yrs in a row, came in 2nd 3 of 4 of those years, won a playoff championship and based on comments from opposing coaches, were widely considered to be the best hitting team every year.

YMMV.

[DerekD]

Good stuff everyone. Thanks.