Baseball coaches always look for routines and skills to help their young players.
Furthermore, combining those drills with a practice schedule to reinforce those skills makes it even more effective.
That’s going to be the goal of this article. I will present you with the best baseball drills for 8 to 10-year-olds and explain how to do them right.
A Short Introduction
“Practice makes perfect.” We’ve all heard that statement, and it’s true.
Repetition of skills is the most effective approach to improving your players’ performance.
Knowing what to do when an opportunity arises is one of the characteristics of a competent player.
The more practice you put in, the more likely your players will perform the right thing at the right moment.
Skill development is essential to having a good ball team. Practicing the drills in this article will help your 8 to 10-year-olds develop their playing habits and improve their overall skill level.
We have divided this article into three different skill areas that you can focus on:
• Fielding
• Hitting
• Baserunning
Fielding Drills
The following workouts will cover fielding and some fielding methods that you might wish to teach your youngsters. Remember to keep an eye out for the skill level that each of these drills should be utilized for!
Skoop drill
This is an excellent drill for teaching younger players how to utilize their gloves correctly.
What you’ll need: Plastic milk jugs with the bottoms cut out are required. One-half must also be removed. It should be set up like a baseball glove, with one side cut out to look like a scoop.
How to do it: Because a scoop is carried outside the hand, younger children will be able to maneuver it more easily than if they were wearing a glove. They will begin to comprehend glove location with the scoop shaped like a glove.
When teaching the kids how to use their ‘scoop,’ show them where the scoop goes in different scenarios. Display grounders, waist-level throws, and shoulder/head-level tosses to them.
Results: You want to teach the students how their glove is similar to the scoop. When the web side is down for grounders, the ball rolls into the glove, and so on.
Past ball
Getting younger players in front of the ball is one of the first things you should do to teach them how to field properly.
What you’ll need: Gloves and balls are required. Two pylons roughly ten feet apart.
How to do it: Explain to the kids that they must not allow the ball to pass between them and cross the imaginary line between the two pylons. You (the coach) will roll or bounce the ball toward the player, hoping to get it past them.
Show them how to shuffle from side to side with their glove in front of them in order to get their complete body in front of the ball.
You will almost certainly have a few players that do not want to take the lead.
You’ll undoubtedly have a few guys that are afraid of getting in front of the ball, fearing it will damage them. This is entirely usual for younger players. If you like, you can do the drill with soft baseballs (for T-ball) or tennis balls to get the kids comfortable with being struck.
Results: Players must learn to shuffle their feet to get in position for the ball at a young age.
This practice will help them acquire range in their shuffle and teach them to keep the ball in front of them by keeping them between the pylons.
Alligator Arms
It is critical for younger players to learn how to catch the ball with two hands. If you use Alligator arms (kids enjoy alligators), it will help them comprehend what is required of them when they field a ball.
What you’ll need: Balls and gloves
How to do it: Explain to the young ball players how an alligator jaw works before the drill begins.
Then demonstrate how to catch the ball and field grounders in the same manner. The ball is similar to alligator food, and they must capture it with both hands.
Allow the kids to form a single file line in the fielding-ready posture.
When you roll the ball, have them lay their glove in front of it and explain that when the ball reaches the kid’s glove, the other hand should clamp down to secure the ball – similar to alligator jaws – but only with their arms.
You may do this with waist-high throws as well as shoulder-high tosses.
Results: With this activity, the younger players will quickly realize the significance of ‘feeding the alligator,’ as it were.
They will quickly learn to secure the ball in their glove with two hands. This is especially useful for younger players who are learning how to effectively field grounders.
Hitting Drills
The drills below are designed to help hitters make consistent contact and hit the ball correctly.
Again, keep an eye out for the various skill levels; nevertheless, many of the basic workouts can still be employed for more experienced kids who are suffering from the fundamentals of hitting.
Children should wear adequate safety equipment (helmets) at all times when practicing hitting drills!
From the tee
Even professionals will return to the fundamentals of using a tee. It assists batters in focusing on their target region when hitting a baseball.
Encourage your players to utilize a tee to practice striking fundamentals.
What you’ll need: A batter, a tee, and several balls are required.
How to do it: If you have a batting cage, this is ideal, but it also works well against a backstop.
Raise or lower the tee to reflect the various strike zone heights. This practice is not designed to have a player slam the ball against the fence but rather to work out kinks in the swing.
Concentrate on hitting the ball on top of it, advancing towards the field (not the ball), swinging down on it, and making firm contact with it.
Results: If a player focuses less on hitting it out of the park and more on making great contact with an effortless swing and learning the fundamentals of hitting, their development will be noticeable.
The end goal is for players to stop swinging for the fences all the time and instead learn the fundamentals of hitting.
Once a player learns to make consistent and firm contact at a young age, you may teach them that they will acquire power as they become older and stronger.
Eye on the spot
Teaching young players to keep their eyes on the ball may not always be as beneficial as we would like as coaches. This drill focuses on a much smaller scale.
What you’ll need: Set up a tee for the player that is about waist height.
Place a dime-sized dot on the backside of the ball, slightly above the midway mark. Always position the ball with the location facing the backstop.
How to do it: Younger players frequently do not understand the concept of keeping their ‘eye on the ball.’
As a result, this activity has been intended to train children to maintain their gaze fixed on a certain area of the ball.
They can swing at the spot utilizing the fundamentals they’ve been taught up to this point once they focus on a target smaller than the ball itself.
Results: The ball is viewed by children as a target that must be hit. They have more leeway when they shoot for a broader objective.
They naturally assume a lesser margin for error when they focus on a smaller objective. This increases their confidence in hitting the ball and promotes muscle memory while swinging.
Batter stance
Although this drill can be employed in a variety of ways at various levels, it emphasizes the fundamental need to ensure that a player’s stance is acceptable.
What you’ll need: A team of six hitters (with helmets and bats). Arrange the players evenly along the third base line.
How to do it: It’s more of a skill clinic than a drill; the instructor will scream out ‘stance!’ and all of the players will get into their batting stance.
The coach(es) will next go through the line of players a couple of times to make any necessary adjustments.
After three or so repetitions, the coach can call ‘stance!’ and any players who still require the same stance corrections are removed from the game.
Results: The younger players will benefit from repetition alone. One of the most critical aspects of preparing for a successful swing is posture.
Learning the proper posture lays a good basis for future solid batting.
Baserunning Drills
The other skill that we will cover in this drills and practice plans guide is baserunning.
This is an extremely important topic to address because many baserunning errors made during a game are costly and may be prevented by teaching your team the fundamentals.
Learn the bases
When children first begin playing, it is always a good idea to teach them about the various bases that are employed. We’ve all seen young baseball players race to a base different than the one they’re supposed to.
What you’ll need (to get started): All you need for this drill is the kids’ undivided attention.
How to do it: Allow the players to follow you from base to base, beginning with the first base and proceeding in order (second, third, home).
Explain to the kids what occurs after you hit the ball, where you go after first base, where you go after second base, and so on.
This drill should be run a couple of times per practice and then at least once during midseason practices and beyond.
This will instill that knowledge in the children, hopefully avoiding any awkward times of sprinting to the wrong base.
Results: The youngsters will have a basic grasp of what happens during a baseball game when they hit the ball and have to run the bases.
This is crucial for children to understand. They get enthused about running the bases once they understand the principles of what they are meant to do when they hit the ball.
Base relay
This is a battle among the team members to see who can run the bases in the correct order.
What you’ll need:: All bases should be properly attached and ready for runners. Split your squad into two squads of roughly equal pace.
How to do it: Line up all of the players from one team at home plate.
When the coach yells go (and clicks a stopwatch), the first person must run all of the bases in the correct sequence before tagging the next person in their line.
When all of the players have passed the home plate, the time is recorded on the timer. Then the next squad takes their turn.
The fastest team wins… something like ice cream.
Results: This is simply a reinforcement of the last practice, but it has been weaved into a competition for the kids.
As kids compete against their teammates in this baserunning practice, they will learn to run the bases in the appropriate order.
Tag up
Coaches get irritated when players are caught not tagging up. Players frequently leave a bag too soon or do not stay on the bag at all.
Getting players ready to tag up on fly balls can help when it comes time to score runs.
What you’ll need: You’ll need runners on all four bases, with the remainder of the players lining up at home plate waiting their turn. The coach will be on the mound in the center of the infield.
How to do it: They begin by leading off with all of the runners at their bases.
The coach will toss a high-fly ball, and the players will plan their tag up for when the coach collects the ball while waiting for the ball to come down.
The players are ready to proceed to the next base after the coach catches the ball. Other coaches or players can sit and judge whether players leave bases too soon or are not tagged up after the ball is caught.
Results: When it is a fly ball, players will learn to anticipate the ball being caught.
After the ball has been caught, they will be able to make a swift break on it. This will be really useful when the time comes for advanced kids on a fly ball.
