Any Baseball Coaches out there? (1 Viewer)

[krafticus]

So, I've coached our fall baseball teams in the past, but there are non-competitive leagues geared to bring some of the newer kids up to speed and such. This spring, my son was fortunate enough to get drafted onto a team with no head coach (same thing happened with basketball this winter too). Anyway, Anyone have any great practice drills, techniques, or other coaching advice they could provide to a semi-rookie coach?

Appreciate anything you have.

Mark

 

[jskel]

I coached for 10 years after my playing days were over. What age is the little one?

 

[krafticus]

I coached for 10 years after my playing days were over. What age is the little one?

They are 11 & 12. In this year, they add the Balk, the straight steal (except for home), and the dropped 3rd strike.

 

[jskel]

fun age...get ready for a merry go round on the bases. Give me an idea of what things you would like some specific things about...hitting, pitching, throwing or fielding in general? I could throw a few drills your way or a few keys to look for or try to teach.

 

[krafticus]

fun age...get ready for a merry go round on the bases. Give me an idea of what things you would like some specific things about...hitting, pitching, throwing or fielding in general? I could throw a few drills your way or a few keys to look for or try to teach.

I want to make sure that the kids are fundamentally sound in the field. My biggest thing is to always know where to throw the ball before its been hit. I know at this age they tend to over think things that are not painfully obvious (like, runner on 3rd and 1 out, ball hit to shortstop... where to throw)...

Batting, I've been given instruction on that, as I got my boys lessons. they didn't take very well with them, as they didn't like to practice in their free time.

Most importantly, I don't want to do the same thing at every practice. I want to keep them "entertained", while learning and getting better. I know some of the drills that our old coach did, and will use some of them for sure. I also don't have much equipment, like a net to hit off of a tee (I have a tanner tee, which is great), and some heavy balls.

Each practice, I want kids doing ground balls, fly balls, throwing drills and hitting. its a lot in a 90 minute practice, but I think I can get it done. Each team has 12 boys, and everyone has to play the infield and outfield.

I am looking forward to the season for sure, just a tad nervous that I suck .. bad.

 

[Davism72]

Following along. My four-year-old starts playing this year. Don't know if I'll ever coach, but it kind of terrifies me to think I might.

Good luck, @krafticus!

 

[yone]

That’s wonderful! Keeping it fun is definitely important at that age. I would start with communication defensively, which positions has priority to call or call off fly balls, who directs the cut offs, who calls what base to throw to, who covers/backs up which base etc. I’m not sure what level they are at, maybe it’s your voice they have to listen to.
You can do this with base runners and a runner starting at home when hitting the ball situationally.
Working on the proper way to do run downs can be fun. Plus you need to capitalize on the other teams base running mistakes

 

[legend672]

Make sure everyone plays catch as much as possible. Hitting slump....more catch over and over.

Also look to hit the first pitch. It might be the best one you see. If you can hit it, swing.

 

[WedgeRock]

Appreciate anything you have.

 

[Chipandchair]

Lollygaggers!!!

 

[Slick51o]

I've been coaching young kids (my oldest is 5), but they make us take clinics before each season. They are pretty good and put on by some serious local academies including one with the SF Giants third base coach.

They all preach a lot of dry drills without the ball to build up muscle memory. Proper throwing motion for stop, block and throw, hitting, and fielding grounders, back hands, fly balls. So whatever you are working on, dry drills and then introduce the ball. With 5 year olds we break it down further. Seems when you get them thinking too much it makes it worse.

 

[ledge4131]

Mark,

Go to usabaseball.com. Sign up and download the the Mobile Coach app. All the drills you need for every position is in the app. You can modify the drills for specific age groups. It is by far the best app that I have found. It is also FREE!

Click on the sportdevelopment link on the page. Go to the education link and you’ll find the mobilecoach link there. Once you register and download the app, you’ll be golden!

Best of luck with your season!

 

[mike32]

From my all around non-competitive sports coaching of kids my best advice is to make sure and do one drill every practice that is purely for fun. In my opinion it doesn’t even have to be totally related to the sport you our coaching. It just has to be fun, kids look forward to this stuff! Some of the worst coaches my boys had growing up would forget that sports ultimately are supposed to be fun. Heck most kids won’t even play baseball beyond the rec leagues. We would do stuff like team tag or egg toss style baseball catching contests, anything silly you can think of. Enjoy the ride, they grow up fast dammit! I’ll leave the serious stuff to the real coaches.

 

[Steamtrain]

If you didn't draft them, then don't coach them.
You will be stuck with a majority of "nitwits" and NWBT's.


No Wanna Be There's

If you do coach be enthusiastic, be attentive, be a winner.

 

[Irish]

Is this is a rec league or a travel-competitive team? My older son turns 13 this year, I've helped to coach his little league teams on several occasions over the years. My #1 piece of advice is probably a no brainer, but GET HELP. You don't want to do this by yourself, try to get at least 3 more parents to help you out. You'll need them to help manage the lineup, coach bases, warm up pitchers and help with BP & drills in practice.

Our teams always took the approach of having the kids get the most out the game. Taking the first pitch of a new pitcher to get a feel for their delivery mechanics, pitch speed and timing is one thing - after that, we encouraged them to swing at anything close and put the ball in play. Some of these kid-pitched games are absolute walk-fests, and IMHO, those games suck for everyone. For the kids in the field who are bored, for those on the bench & walking around the bases who are bored, and for the poor kid on the mound. They're not learning anything and no one's having fun. We played of a lot coaches that told their bottom tiered kids not to swing at all, in hopes they'd get walked. Just to win a rec game. Let them swing away and put the ball in play.

For the older kids, we typically ran 3 or 4 stations in practice and pre-game warm ups. One coach with a group of 3 or 4 boys at the batting cage, one in the outfield practicing pop-ups, one in the infield hitting grounders (make sure you're hitting them off the bat too, they need that practice of watching the ball come off the bat) and making the throw to first, and another reviewing pitching mechanics with the pitchers slated to throw that game. Rotate every 15-20 minutes, depending on how much time you have.

Good luck with the season, coaching can certainly be a pain in the ass but remember, you only have so many years of this stuff - enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[EasyE]

Congratulations on the opening sounds like you have half the battle won already with your enthusiasm to make it fun for the kids and learn more yourself. 11 years in girls softball with lifelong memories. My goals were to have fun, play as a team and strive to have everyone improve.

In practices choose a handful of drills to do during practice and do some as a group but most split in stations in order to keep the kids engaged.
For Ex.
Start the practice together with alternating topics. Stretch, throw, talk baseball and game situations. 15 minutes
Then split in groups for an hour.
a pitcher and catcher head off the field somewhere if possible
Tee work/soft toss in left. Wiffle balls if possible
Hit balls from coach on right field line to center, hit cut, throw to player next to coach then rotate and hustle to spot.
With an open infield work on fielding, base running, stealing, etc.

With maybe 3-4 kids at each station and a couple of pitcher catcher combos to filter in and out spend about 20 minutes at each.

Then 15 minutes of togetherness again. Maybe split up and scrimmage. Coaches fill in the 2-3 open spots.

For fun and to master a powerful strategy have a few bunting only scrimmage sessions. Everyone must bunt but the defense can't over play it prior to pitch.
Or a fun one - only have the coaches in the field and the whole team is at bat . If a player makes an out they join the defense . Keep batting around until last man standing wins.

Philosophies I would stress were to run on the field don't walk. There's enough time standing around.
You may run into a more talented team but that didn't mean they could out hustle us.
and most importantly good sportsmanship. Always cheer for your own team and never against the other team. Let your play do the talking outside the team.

Good luck!!

 

[moose]

At that age group/rule set you will have to work with your pitchers the most - balks, steal defense - checking on the runner every pitch, changing delivery timing, step offs, throw overs and run down drills. Having pitchers that will throw over is huge. At that age it will be hard to find catchers that can throw to 2nd so if the pitcher can't hold the runners then every walk eventually means the runner will be standing on 3rd. I try to get all the pitchers to throw to first every time their first base runner reaches at least once during the next at bat because they need practice. Not that they are expected to pick anyone off but if they don't at least try to throw then they will never get better at it.

 

[joepro]

Mark,

Great topic, @Irish and @EasyE stole my thunder a little. Keep it fun, let any volunteers help you but make sure you coach the coaches, no kids sitting down or standing around. Teach them all the fundamentals, hitting, pitching, infield, outfield, running the bases. Running, push ups, and stuff like that is a waste of time. Have fun and learn how to play the sport.

 

[moose]

Or a fun one - only have the coaches in the field and the whole team is at bat . If a player makes an out they join the defense . Keep batting around until last man standing wins.

The kids love this one. Start your regular 1st baseman and catcher in the field however. Each batter gets 5 pitches. On the 5th pitch, contact or not they have to run to first and the catcher has to throw to 1st to complete the out. This gives the runners and fielder's practice on the 'dropped 3rd strike'. Once you have a few players get out, let the 1st baseman and catcher rotate out and let them hit.

 

[joepro]

I forgot, @sir bluffs alot has a lot of coaching experience!

 

[krafticus]

The kids love this one. Start your regular 1st baseman and catcher in the field however. Each batter gets 5 pitches. On the 5th pitch, contact or not they have to run to first and the catcher has to throw to 1st to complete the out. This gives the runners and fielder's practice on the 'dropped 3rd strike'. Once you have a few players get out, let the 1st baseman and catcher rotate out and let them hit.

I like this. I get to meet the team Saturday, which is cool.

Here are a few more tidbits...

After the first year of "Rookie" ball (coach pitch), we move into the regular season/teams. There are 3 divisions; International, Minors, and Majors. All kids are evaluated when they start in the International league (or join the league in general). The draft starts with the International league (9-10), and the kids remain on the same team throughout their time in the League. Each kid will get 4 years in this system, and pending their skill level, they will stay in one of the 3 leagues for 2 years. This is great, as the kids get to learn to play together and bond over the course of their time there.

Now, some kids/parents request a re-draft, as they might have issues with a coach, another player, or some other reasons. it doesn't happen often. Any kid joining for the 1st time in an age group above International will be evaluated, and the teams have a supplemental draft.

I will be coaching the "Majors" team this season, so I have kids that have been together for a while. My middle guy took a year off from this league (worst mistake ever), and had to be re-evaluated. He had a killer eval (he rated better than he actually is, since he threw 10 pitches and 9 were strikes --- not normal for him ) He has a strong arm, and has thrown out kids trying to steal second (albeit, they were a tad slower, as it is impossible to catch the quick kids). During the season, if we are missing players, we can always "call up" kids from the lower teams in our system.

I love baseball. outside of my family, it is my first love. I'll be doing some research during some down time this week, for sure. I want to ensure our team is competitive, but has fun too. Its a tough balance for sure.

If anyone wants to see the details of our league, you can see them here.

https://bsbproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/portals/5550/docs/baseball/2018 documents/hcyp-rules-intl-min-major-pony_20180225.pdf

 

[sir bluffs alot]

Speaking in general terms, there’s not much to add to what has already been said. Stations, stations, stations... No standing around!!! Separate groups get more done, ie separate infield and outfield for most drill work, unless you are specifically working on cut-offs, communication, etc. Why do one rep when you could be doing two or more?

I always make sure to cover each aspect of the game in each practice, even if just for a couple minutes (hitting, bunting, infield, outfield, pitching, catching, base running, etc.). If you can combine two or more aspects into one drill (infield defense and base running for instance), you can better utilize your limited time together.

Lastly, I focus my teams around three consistent ideas: 1) that everyone has something to do on every play. The true sign of a good coach is watching a team in which all players on the field move in unison, each one doing what’s expected, 2) play aggressively - it’s okay to make a mistake going forward... Being tentative is no way to dominate, 3) Understanding the “why”. Too often kids are told to do “A” or “B”, but they have no understanding as to why. Explain the “why” and you’ll created better ball players.

Feel free to message me and I’ll send you my contact info. Much easier to explain ideas on the phone than through written messages.

Chuck

 

[Klobberer]

YouTube has tons of drills for players of all levels.