Outfield drills

[Brptl.2012]

Does anybody have some good outfield drills? I coach a 10u team and we have a pitching machine we use to throw fly balls. The girls do pretty good tracking and catching fly balls. Balls in the gaps or line drives that drop before we get to them absolutely eat us alive. We take poor angles and we miss a lot of balls even the ones we do get to. I’m looking for something that’s not going to end up with us chasing balls to the fence over and over. I just hate to waste all that time. Maybe that is the answer just didn’t know if there was something more efficient that someone else has done.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Using the pitching machine is a good idea. You can place the ball. Different trajectories. Put a cone at the starting spot and another cone to where the ball is going to land. They dont have to think, just run to the cone. If you can teach them to tuck their glove and run (do not run with arm reached out) to the cone and catch the ball on the run, you will be way ahead of the average 10U,12U, 14U outfielder. Start easy and increase difficulty very slowly.

 

[Northball]

Practice the communication between outfielders. Fly ball between two of them. Fielders saying "ball, ball, ball" as they are tracking it, then turning the volume up a notch to call it "MINE MINE MINE" when they are going to make the play. Allows fielders to keep their eyes on the ball and not look at each other to avoid collisions. Cuts down on headaches from collisions. Also cuts down on both players giving up on the ball at the last second and then looking at each other after the ball drops to the ground.

 

[CoachJD]

Practice the communication between outfielders. Fly ball between two of them. Fielders saying "ball, ball, ball" as they are tracking it, then turning the volume up a notch to call it "MINE MINE MINE" when they are going to make the play. Allows fielders to keep their eyes on the ball and not look at each other to avoid collisions. Cuts down on headaches from collisions. Also cuts down on both players giving up on the ball at the last second and then looking at each other after the ball drops to the ground.

And teach your CFs to catch everything they can get to. They're in charge out there. Go get the ball.

 

[canyonjoe]

I agree that working on calling balls it really important. One quick drill we used to do was have them start even with a coach from around 30 feet. We would throw a simple popup pretty close to them. After they catch they drop and start running. We would lead them for a line drive which they would drop then throw one that they really had to run for. We hoped they would catch 1/3 of the long ones. The goal was to teach them they could run out more than they think. It was amazing doing this over a season how much the distance they covered on the 3rd throw changed over a period of time.

 

[Northball]

Does anybody have some good outfield drills? I coach a 10u team and we have a pitching machine we use to throw fly balls. The girls do pretty good tracking and catching fly balls. Balls in the gaps or line drives that drop before we get to them absolutely eat us alive. We take poor angles and we miss a lot of balls even the ones we do get to. I’m looking for something that’s not going to end up with us chasing balls to the fence over and over. I just hate to waste all that time. Maybe that is the answer just didn’t know if there was something more efficient that someone else has done.

I was watching our 11u rec play tonight and I sure saw what you talked about taking bad angles and being eaten alive by liners on the ground. Unless it was hit right to them, you were going to see the back of their jersey as they chased after it. We used to do angle drills to get girls to read a soft fly properly, probably need to spend a good amount of time on angle drills for those liners and rollers as well.

 

[Towny9]

Using the pitching machine is a good idea. You can place the ball. Different trajectories. Put a cone at the starting spot and another cone to where the ball is going to land. They dont have to think, just run to the cone. If you can teach them to tuck their glove and run (do not run with arm reached out) to the cone and catch the ball on the run, you will be way ahead of the average 10U,12U, 14U outfielder. Start easy and increase difficulty very slowly.

This was a staple at almost every high school practice. Keep with this and they will figure it out!

 

[YOCOACH]

While a machine is a good way to start for the girls to learn, eventually, the girls are going to need to learn to read the ball coming off the bat. Our outfield has improved tremendously once I taught my OFers how to read it. Their first few steps are key to successfully fielding the ball as others have alluded to. Repition is key in anything SB related.

It also helps if your middle infielders relay the pitch location call to the outfield behind their backs. Teach your players the locations of the pitches so the can be more alert. In other words, an outside pitch will usually go to the right side of the OF if hit. By relaying the pitch location, this will alert the CF and RF to be extra alert. Of course this isn't always the case. Sometimes a hitter catches it early and pulls it. That said, it pays to play the odds so to speak.

 

[Cornbread]

Work on 1 handed catches on the run on the machine: back left/right, side left/right, front left/right. Add the plant and get the ball in, don’t just catch it.

Also, put machine at home plate and work “tweeners” with infielders and outfielders at their positions. Shoot shallow pop flys over the infield and in front of the outfield. Teach infielders to go get it too. Must communicate. Outfield has priority. Make sure infielders cover bases on balls they know they will not get to.

 

[PJR202]

For the line drives and rollers, we had some success with the half moon drill. teaching them to come around and get lined up with the ball. it was as simple has have a hit, or throw to replicate the hit, and force them to run in an arc before the point of no return. you can also put a person or obstacle/cone out that they aren't allowed to get inside of as they work toward the ball/position they need.

there's nothing complex about it. just the name "half moon" took care of at least have of the girls as far as wrapping their head around the concept. it worked much better for the new MS girls vs the new LL age kids we used it on the first time.