Just wondering if anyone has any good drills for the outfield(high school). Thanks
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shakdaddy, i am not a coach i am senior in high school, but i do play outfield. Some good drills, that have helped me are.
1. Have a teammate or coach sit about 5 feet from the player. Have the coach toss baseballs to the players left and then to his right, about 3 to 4 feet away. Alternate directions everytime you throw a ball, have the player catch the ball with his glove hand, then you can switch hands if you want, but i usually just do glove hand.
2. Another good drill is to just take them to the outfield and hit fungos, good work on getting used to reading the ball of a live bat.
When we take fungos, we usually go to the outfield and the coach will hit usually two buckets of balls, all on the ground and we just work on do or dies and getting our footwork down. Then usually moves to the pitchers mound or home plate and we work on steps and getting the right angles while chasing down fly balls, work on getting behind the ball and in a good postion to throw back into the infield.
3. Is to just have the outfielders pair off, have them stand on the foul line in the outfield or wherever, one kid stands on the line the other is about 5 or 6 feet away. THe kid standing on the line throws baseballs over the kids left shoulder, right shoulder, then straight back, usually do like 5 right, 5 left, 5 straight back then do two sets good warm-up things to do while the infielders are doing all their infield work at start of practice.
Those are some that we use, and have helped if you are consistent with doing them day in and day out during practice and have kids that will work hard when the coach isn't watching. I hope that this is some help to you.
1. Have a teammate or coach sit about 5 feet from the player. Have the coach toss baseballs to the players left and then to his right, about 3 to 4 feet away. Alternate directions everytime you throw a ball, have the player catch the ball with his glove hand, then you can switch hands if you want, but i usually just do glove hand.
2. Another good drill is to just take them to the outfield and hit fungos, good work on getting used to reading the ball of a live bat.
When we take fungos, we usually go to the outfield and the coach will hit usually two buckets of balls, all on the ground and we just work on do or dies and getting our footwork down. Then usually moves to the pitchers mound or home plate and we work on steps and getting the right angles while chasing down fly balls, work on getting behind the ball and in a good postion to throw back into the infield.
3. Is to just have the outfielders pair off, have them stand on the foul line in the outfield or wherever, one kid stands on the line the other is about 5 or 6 feet away. THe kid standing on the line throws baseballs over the kids left shoulder, right shoulder, then straight back, usually do like 5 right, 5 left, 5 straight back then do two sets good warm-up things to do while the infielders are doing all their infield work at start of practice.
Those are some that we use, and have helped if you are consistent with doing them day in and day out during practice and have kids that will work hard when the coach isn't watching. I hope that this is some help to you.
shakdaddy...glad you brought this up because OFers are the most abused members of the team during practice (running bases, etc...), and receive the least amount of work. curious because a mistake in the outfield usually means 2 bases, rather than 1 base with an infield error. anyway, be creative. think of game situations for outfielders...skills they will need during each and every game, and design drills to reinforce these drills. practicing a crow hop for example...long arm motion on throws...learning how to save an OFers arm during a game by using the lower half to help get the ball moving. you can come up with your own drills, just think about what they need to know. i go watch a lot of high school practices, and see coaches working the OFers for 15 minutes on fence drills, 3 times per week. not very efficient use of practice time when the fence drill will help defense a couple of balls each season. best of luck!
shakdaddy, I have a bunch of drills for you. Email me at rip00_18@yahoo.com and I can give you the rest of them.
1. have them line up and go one at a time. Point to your right and have them open up to their left. Make sure they open up right. Then tell them to go have them run and then throw the ball in the air. Let them know the are working to get behind the baseball and do not want to camp underneath it. Do this a couple times than switch sides.
2. then do the 4 or 2 cone drill. I usually only do 2. Have a machine shoot out high fly balls. Find where it is land and go 30 feet towards the machine and go 15 to the right and left and set up your two cones. Have the person feeding the machine show the ball and have the outfielder open up. The when the ball is feed have the outfielder track it down. They will soon learn that they can not drift to the ball and that they have to work behind it. It is a + + working behind. 1 where you can generate momentum towards wherever they are throwing. 2 if the ball decides to continue to carry they are in perfect position to catch the ball.
1. have them line up and go one at a time. Point to your right and have them open up to their left. Make sure they open up right. Then tell them to go have them run and then throw the ball in the air. Let them know the are working to get behind the baseball and do not want to camp underneath it. Do this a couple times than switch sides.
2. then do the 4 or 2 cone drill. I usually only do 2. Have a machine shoot out high fly balls. Find where it is land and go 30 feet towards the machine and go 15 to the right and left and set up your two cones. Have the person feeding the machine show the ball and have the outfielder open up. The when the ball is feed have the outfielder track it down. They will soon learn that they can not drift to the ball and that they have to work behind it. It is a + + working behind. 1 where you can generate momentum towards wherever they are throwing. 2 if the ball decides to continue to carry they are in perfect position to catch the ball.
