Infield Pre-Game Drill

I've seen some pretty complex infield drills that I would like to incorporate with my team, but last season for the sake of simplicity and getting in and out quickly, we did this:

LF on line, 1 throw to 2B
CF/RF in normal positions, 1 throw to 3B
LF/CF/RF in normal positions, 1 throw home
IF in, one throw home
IF normal, one throw to 1st as if John Kruk was running
IF normal, one throw to 1st as if Rickey Henderson was running
IF DP depth, one double play
IF in, one throw home, player follows throw and plays slow roller to 1B

We intentionally avoided catcher's throwing, and we didn't do a lot in IF/OF pregame (partially because we took ugly infield...but we were good in games).

I will say though that next season our routine will be much more in depth, more crisp, with everyone getting a solid workout in.

Good point mentioning the outfielders. How often do you see drills at the little league levels focus on the infielders and forget about the outfield. By time they get to high school, it's the outfield that keeps games in check when balls are getting hit all over the place. When you mention infield drills, outfield drills need to be equally worked on. They MUST be part of infield drills.

It depends on what your purpose is.

If you want to get everyone some groundballs, I would follow teh above routine. If you want to showcase the skills of your players, you could do:

The OF same as above but give them 2 balls to each base (1 flyball and 1 GB)
Start all of the IF in the 6 hole, giving them 2 balls (1 right at them and then 1 slow roller)
IF - Get 1 to forehand side
IF - Turn 2 to forehand side
IF - Turn 2 to backhand side, with C throwing down
IF - deep - long 1, short 1 - long backhand GB followed by slow roller

This will show arm strength, agility and body control.

I always do outfield in pre-game. I was just curious what most coaches do for infield pre-game. Star Drill a couple times then hit to position and throw to 1st? How many work on turning two in pre-game? Do you throw to other bases also, or just to 1st?

Here's our pregame:
We work fast. Starters only. 3 coaches (1 does the routine, 1 hits to IF during OF portion, 1 hits to OF that are waiting)

LF, CF, RF to 2b 3 balls (to their left, to their right and right at them flyball)
RF, CF, LF to 3b 3 balls (corner, gap, fly ball tag sit.)
LF, CF, RF to home 3 balls (all or nothing, regular with cut, Tag with cut)
ALL OF TO CF for flyball reps.

After the OF we go to Multi purpose IF with 2 coaches while 1 hits to OF. All IF is going on simultaneously (2 coaches hitting grounders)
1. 3rd to 1B and 2b feeding SS on DP
2. SS to 1B and 3B to 2B for DP
3. 2B to 1B and SS to 3B ball in hole
4. 1B to 3B and SS to 2B DP feeds

After Multi purpose we do a more traditional IF with 1 coach in IF and 1 in OF. All IF get 1 ball on each step below.
1. home for force IF in
2. home for tag IF in
3. look back go 1 IF in
4. slow roller go 1 IF in
5. regular grounder go 1
6. turn 2
7. regular back-hand go 1
8. home and follow

We usually get this done in 10 minutes even though we are allowed 15. The key is to set a fast tempo so they break a sweat and feel some pressure. Lots of reps in a short period of time with no standing around, that's our goal for every drill we do.

LF CF RF - ground ball to 2B
LF CF RF - Fly ball to 2B

LF CF RF - Gap on ground to 3B
LF CF RF - Gap fly ball to 3B

LF CF RF - Ground ball to Home
LF CF RF - Shallow fly ball to Home

3B SS 2B - Ground ball at you to first
3B SS 2B 1B - Ground ball glove side to first
3B SS 2B 1B - Ground ball throwing side to first
3B SS 2B 1B - Ground ball to first - Throw to bag catcher

Turn 2 glove side.
Turn 2 throwing side.

Slow roller to 3B SS 2B 1B
Infield up throw to plate.

Bring it off.

While the outfield is taking infield the catcher is throwing to 1st and 3rd on bunts and blocked third strikes.

we use 2 coaches during infield. one at the plate, one behing 2nd. we do 2 things at once. (outfielders take 2 or 3 grounballs and throws each round.)
1. of make throws to 2nd. 3b takes groundballs and makes throws to 1st.
2. of make throws to 3rd. 2b takes groundballs and makes throws to 1st.
3. of make throws to plate. ss takes groundballs and make throws to 1st.
on the last throw to the plate from rf catcher throws it around. we use 2 balls. outfielders all go to cf and take flyballs. we now take a quick traditional round of infield.
4. infeild in.
5. regular throw to 1st.
6. dps
7. slow roller and in.
this takes 6 to 7 minutes max and our kids enjoy it because its different and everybody is doing something.

One factor seems to be missing in all these sequences, although one person asked about "intent" and another comment implied this was about "showcasing" in front of other team. IMHO pre-game serves two purposes as distinct from practice ... especially for away games.
1) test the infield grass and cut - the lip, the bounce, the imperfections
2) test the outfield site lines - different parks may have irregular fields, may not have warning tracks, may have unexpected depressions, or distractions behind the backstop.
The point for my money of infield/outfield pre-game is to test the field - not the players. Which is also why I don't get the sequences in which players whip the ball from base to base ... that's showboating nothing else.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Todd:
One factor seems to be missing in all these sequences, although one person asked about "intent" and another comment implied this was about "showcasing" in front of other team. IMHO pre-game serves two purposes as distinct from practice ... especially for away games.
1) test the infield grass and cut - the lip, the bounce, the imperfections
2) test the outfield site lines - different parks may have irregular fields, may not have warning tracks, may have unexpected depressions, or distractions behind the backstop.
The point for my money of infield/outfield pre-game is to test the field - not the players. Which is also why I don't get the sequences in which players whip the ball from base to base ... that's showboating nothing else.

Testing the infield grass...oh you mean like one game last year where I hit a nice routine three hopper to our third baseman during infield/outfield. On the third hop, the ball bounced over my third baseman's head, and that's not an exaggeration. And, by the way, even on JV, my third baseman was about 6'2". It was my first time at the field....all I could say was "oh boy". Just an FYI, nobody got killed that day, but I'm not sure how.

Richard, you have made an interesting point about the quirks of a field. I feel that the coach has a great deal of responsibility during this time frame.

I like to check for other things also. This includes the type of fence in the outfield. Is it one that will stop or slow down a ball that reaches it? Is it a concrete or hard wall that will allow a ball to bounce back rapidly?

Then there is always the area behind first and down the RF line on a ball that gets away. Is it where a runner can take the extra base easily or will he be forced to think twice before going?

Same thing around home. Is it fence or is it a hard surface?

I will also watch and see how the field plays as the opponent takes their infield. In addition to assessing their players range, arm strength, speed.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachO:
Richard, you have made an interesting point about the quirks of a field. I feel that the coach has a great deal of responsibility during this time frame.

I like to check for other things also. This includes the type of fence in the outfield. Is it one that will stop or slow down a ball that reaches it? Is it a concrete or hard wall that will allow a ball to bounce back rapidly?

Then there is always the area behind first and down the RF line on a ball that gets away. Is it where a runner can take the extra base easily or will he be forced to think twice before going?

Same thing around home. Is it fence or is it a hard surface?

I will also watch and see how the field plays as the opponent takes their infield. In addition to assessing their players range, arm strength, speed.

That's pretty much what I did with my players during IF / OF when I was head coach. And when I become one again we will be doing just that.

One thing I've never understood is coaches who hit rockets everytime at their players. They should get routine groundballs to get a measure of the field and start to get into a rythem of fielding and throwing. Overall though I always felt IF / OF wasn't all that important and won many games getting off the bus, throwing and playing. If you teach and prepare during practice then your players should be fine in games.

We used to play at a place in downtown Louisville and the field was behind the stands at a football field. The RF line was about 320, RF gap was about 370 just right of CF it shot out to around 430 and then ito got interesting. As you moved toward the LF line it got closer and closer. LF line was about 260 and as it moved toward CF stayed pretty close to that.

But the "fence" was the back of the stands. So it went straight up around 100 and had two foul poles. They had the normal foul pole but had another "foul" pole about 120 off the line. If it was between the two poles it was a ground rule double but if it was to the right of the other "foul" pole then it was a homerun.

There was a net that was on the back of the stands that you played it off. And there were little fenced cutouts where the light standards for the football field were that some were in play and some weren't in play. Ground rules took forever and I asked the coach if he ever thought about printing up a manual to hand to opposing coaches.

Anyway - my guys loved this field because it was fairly easy to hit a homerun but IF / OF was fun. I hit balls off the net and let them see how to play them, they watched the other team and where they were positioned to get an upper hand, I hit the fenced cut outs to see how the ball would bounce.

It was pretty great and they were a good team as well. So it was a great day when we went up there.

Coach2709, I get what you're saying about taking the rocket shots. Personally, I like to take a little off during IF/OF but there is that occasional player that thrives on that type of challenge. He will get what he asks for as long as long as a bad round doesn't affect his game play.

I think that it can be attributed to a coaches philosophy, his personal style, the team mentality, etc.

This can be used as an advantage once in a while. We had a game against a squad that was filled with upper classmen and during pre-game I noticed that their 3B was staying a couple of extra steps back. I made a mental note of that and saw that he was going to play that way.

I had my lead off hitter bunt the first pitch down the 3b line and he was safe on a bang-bang play. That set the tone for the rest of the game and my young squad walked away with a win from a very good team. We had 15 sophomore and freshmen players that year.

I have also had that work against me as well under different scenarios.

A lot can be learned during that time.

I apologize for straying from the initial topic!!!