practice question.

[coach]

My kids have finally moved up to 9U- AA and we have 10 players. I would say that 6 of those are pitchers, and the other 4 could pitch if needed, but just not as good as the other 6. The problem I am having is organizing my practices in order to get enough practice for pitchers pitching to batters, and batters hitting off real pitchers. Is this somethign that is important, or do I need to just have BP, and have the pitchers pitch bullpen sessions? I really don't have a spot to just do bullpen off a mound, so we pitch off flat ground. If I shouldn't be having the kids hit and pitch to one another, then what would/should be done to get both pitchers and hitters ready. any help would be appreciated. Even a simple practice plan or organization would be helpful.

-DS

[shake-n-bake]

My kids have finally moved up to 9U- AA and we have 10 players. I would say that 6 of those are pitchers, and the other 4 could pitch if needed, but just not as good as the other 6. The problem I am having is organizing my practices in order to get enough practice for pitchers pitching to batters, and batters hitting off real pitchers. Is this somethign that is important, or do I need to just have BP, and have the pitchers pitch bullpen sessions? I really don't have a spot to just do bullpen off a mound, so we pitch off flat ground. If I shouldn't be having the kids hit and pitch to one another, then what would/should be done to get both pitchers and hitters ready. any help would be appreciated. Even a simple practice plan or organization would be helpful.

-DS

My advice would be to make your practice plans so they do not include your pitcher facing live hitters and hitters vice versa facing your pitcher. I've done it a number of different ways. I've hit balls to fielders when the pitch wasn't hit to keep the fielders involved. I've brought one hitter at a time into basically a bull pen session. However you do it it turns out to be a less efficient use of practice time.

Best thing to do is keep your practices geared toward efficient use of time, keeping everyone engaged, and progressively adding on in a logical way that teaches the game and teaches them how to learn the game.

Get your live hitting and pitching in the form of scrimmages. Get to know a couple other coaches in your league and set up a practice game or shared use of the field where part of the practice includes scrimmaging.

[Kings over Queens]

Get your live hitting and pitching in the form of scrimmages.

Very good advice. Another option, albeit more expensive, is to do your hitting indoors at the batting cages. BP with a 10 or 12 kid roster can easily chew up 30 minutes of valuable practice time, and chew up the coach's arm too.

I always liked my assistant coach to work with 2 or 3 pitchers at a time, running drills with them, while the rest of the team focused on other fundies, and we'd rotate so that all of them got some pitching work. If we had enough time we might let the kids take a few swings with my assistant throwing, but quick.

[real green]

I have always felt live AB's very valuable. Many youths do not have the same swing against a live kid pitcher that they would have against a coach. While I have not found a very efficient way to implement in practice, I have found it to be worth the time. Must be supervised, on two fields. 12 players - grouped into 3's. Make sure your top pitchers are in different groups. 4 stations.

Station one = Soft toss and Tee work

Station two = Coach Pitch BP One shagger - One on deck - One batter - 5 swings than rotate

Station three (field 2) = Kid pitching bp - each kid pitches to three batters (coach behind pitcher calling balls strikes and coaching hitters and pitchers). 2 extra kids shag balls while waiting to rotate in as pitcher. Predetermine pitch counts. IE after 20 pitches finish batter and rotate.

Station four = Batting off kids - each kid gets at;least three live AB's - One on deck, one in the hole, one at bat.

Each hitter should see at least one good pitcher, one OK pitcher, and one thrower. Which is pretty typical of a game. Each pitcher will typically face one strong hitter, one contact hitter, and one weak hitter. Again, very typical game scenario.

[AdamInNY]

The above looks good. What's the difference between station three and station four?

[real green]

The above looks good. What's the difference between station three and station four?

Station three is the kid pitching station. Three kids rotating through pitching. Shagging balls between.

Station four has 3 batters hitting off the youth pitchers. Batters batting with live counts not free swings.

Batters will not get a lot of swings in this station, but they will feel the pressure of hitting off kid pitching and live counts.

Pitcher will get live experience regarding strong batters weak batters. A good time to experiment with that new change up and work on location dependant upon counts and batter ability. Pitchers will get good feedback on how batters react. I stand behind pitchers - calling pitch, location, balls, and strikes. I also discuss why and when you might throw a high fastball....

Seems to work. I also get a great idea who can actually pitch and who needs work. It's amazing how many kids ability flops from BP to live batters. Kids that throw a good BP that can't throw a strike against live batters. Kids that throw horrible in BP that are very effective against live batters. It can be a real eye opener.