Youth Baseball Drills: The Complete List by Skill and Age

A drill isn’t good or bad. It’s right or wrong for the kid in front of you. The glove-position drill that fills a six-year-old’s whole station is a 90-second warm-up at twelve, and the short-hop drill that sharpens a twelve-year-old’s hands will make a six-year-old cry. So this list of youth baseball drills is sorted by skill and tagged by age, and every drill names the one flaw it fixes. A drill that fixes three things fixes none of them.

This is the drills pillar of our coaching baseball hub. The clock they run inside is the 60 and 90 minute practice plan. That post is about minutes. This one is about what goes in them.

How to Use This List of Youth Baseball Drills

Three rules that matter more than any drill below.

• The age ranges are floors and ceilings. They come from the coaching books, where every drill is tagged with the ages it works for. Below the floor you get frustration. Above the ceiling you get eye rolls.
• Every drill fixes one thing. If you’re correcting feet, hands, and eyes at the same station, you picked the wrong drill.
• Stations, not lines. Four kids per drill. A parent who has never coached can run anything marked parent-safe, because all it takes is rolling or tossing a ball.

One more thing the one-page articles leave out: the teaching order. Dry drill first (no ball, just the movement), then a tee or a rolled ball, then live. Each step is easier to do correctly than the one after it. A kid who can’t do the dry version won’t do the live one. And the coach’s distance and the speed of the throw scale with age: close and slow for the little ones, farther and firmer as they grow, always challenging them while they can still do the fundamental right.

Catching and Receiving Drills (Ages 6 to 12)

Every throwing habit and half the fielding habits start with how a kid receives a ball. These three are the same setup with the throws getting harder, so they work as one station: the little ones stay on the first drill, the older ones move through all three.

Glove Position

One kid at a time in the receiving position, facing the coach. Split into as many lines as you have adults. Parent-safe.

1. Throw above the waist. Two hands, glove out front.
2. Throw below the waist. Two hands, glove turned over.
3. Five each, rotate. Fix the glove with your hands, not your voice.

Ages 6 to 12. Fixes: the one-handed stab, and the glove facing the wrong way on a low ball.

Quick Feet

Same setup, throws a step to the right and a step to the left.

1. The player moves his feet so the ball is caught in front of his body, not beside it.
2. Two hands, every catch.
3. If the feet don’t move, don’t throw the next one until they do.

Ages 7 to 12. Fixes: reaching. A kid who reaches at seven reaches for ground balls at twelve.

Reaction

Same setup, and now the throws go anywhere: high, low, left, right, any order. The pregame version.

1. Throw in all directions and heights, one after another.
2. Ball caught in front of the body with two hands, every time.
3. Five throws, rotate. Speed it up for the older kids.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: frozen feet on a ball that isn’t where they expected it.

Now make them games. Two teams. A two-handed catch in the middle of the body is 2 points, getting in front without the catch is 1, a catch off to the side is nothing. Play to 20, winners get five extra swings at the hitting station. The one point that runs through all of it, including warm-up catch: every ball received in the center of the body, by moving the feet. That’s where the habit gets built.

Throwing Drills (Ages 6 to 14)

“Go play catch” is where throwing mechanics go to die, because nobody is watching the feet. These put the feet on your commands so the kids can’t skip them.

Square to Target, Dry

One line, an arm’s length apart, facing you. No ball. Hands together at the chest.

1. On “Block,” step toward you with the throwing-side foot, landing it almost perpendicular to you.
2. On “Break,” the hands separate into the launch position while the glove-side foot steps straight at you.
3. Hold it. Walk the line. Fix the feet that stepped sideways.

Ages 7 and up. Fixes: throwing across the body, where most wild throws at nine come from.

Shuffle Crow-Hop

Two lines 30 feet apart, partners facing, one line with the balls. Athletic position, squared up, hands at the chest.

1. On “Crow hop,” the feet shuffle, back foot replacing front, and the ball goes.
2. Watch for a straight line to the target and balance through the throw.
3. Ten throws, then the other line.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: the flat-footed throw with no momentum. For 8 and up, run the full version: on “Lift” the throwing-side foot comes off the ground and the weight goes to the glove leg; on “Crow hop” they push forward, land on the throwing-side foot nearly perpendicular, and step through. It’s exaggerated on purpose. That’s how they feel it.

Slap Five

Coach 4 to 6 feet in front of the player, palm up at waist height. Player in the launch position, no ball.

1. Simulate the throw, reaching out on the follow-through to slap the hand.
2. If the hand doesn’t get there, the arm stopped short. Again.
3. Older kids run the whole motion from the throwing position.

Ages 6 to 12. Fixes: short-arming, the throw that ends at the shoulder instead of out front. Kids love this one, which is convenient.

Warm-Up Catch on Command

Pair by arm strength, not friendship. Start 15 to 30 feet apart depending on age. One line has the balls.

1. “Receiving position.” Everyone without a ball gets set.
2. “Block.” Every thrower blocks the throwing-side foot.
3. “Throw.” Step with the glove-side foot and throw.
4. Run the first five to ten throws on commands, then let them back up into long toss on their own. The crow hop comes in as they get farther apart.

Ages 8 to 14. Fixes: the footwork kids abandon the moment you stop watching. Run it every practice.

Coming back in, finish with quick toss: close together, glove thumb to thumb, catch and throw back as fast as possible while still squaring up. That’s the glove-to-hand exchange, and your future middle infielders should do a lot of it. To check spin, color half a ball; gripped across the split, it should rotate with the colored half staying on its side. The full throwing drills post covers arm action and fixing a kid who already throws wrong.

Hitting Drills (Ages 6 to 12)

The order isn’t optional: dry swings, then the tee, then soft toss, then live. A big-league hitter will tell you his most important work is still off a tee, because it slows the swing down to where one piece can be fixed. Your ten-year-old needs that more than he does.

Most coaches set the tee up wrong, so start there. Stem at the hitter’s mid-thigh. Lead foot just behind the stem, so the ball is out in front. To find the distance, have the kid swing and stop at contact: hands not fully extended, ball on the sweet spot of the barrel. Move the tee to wherever that is.

Line Drive Off the Tee

Tee set for a pitch down the middle, a net or fence in front.

1. Drive the ball straight into the net at the height of the tee stem.
2. Count line drives in a row. A pop-up or grounder resets it.
3. Ten swings, rotate. The kid picking up balls wears a helmet.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: everything, slowly. A line drive up the middle is the best place to hit a baseball, and this builds the swing that gets there.

Two Tees, Forward and Down

Two tees in a line, 12 to 18 inches apart, stems level, ball on the front one. Only one tee? A bucket behind it with a small cone on top.

1. Swing at the front ball.
2. If the bat hits the back tee (or knocks the cone off), the swing plane has an uppercut in it.
3. Swing until five in a row miss the back tee.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the uppercut, the most common flaw you’ll see and the one parents teach in the backyard.

Soft Toss

A coach kneels off to the side and flips balls underhand into the zone. Whiffle balls for the younger kids so nobody chases baseballs. Pairs spread along the first-base line hitting into left, with room between them.

1. Flip it out front. The hitter steps, swings, drives it.
2. Back to the stance, wait for the next one. Ten swings a turn.
3. Advanced kids get some inside and some outside, to learn going with the pitch.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: timing and tracking, which the tee can’t teach. It has every element of live batting practice except the speed, which is exactly why a kid can repeat a sound swing in it and you can actually see the swing.

T-Ball Target

Tee at the plate, tennis ball on it. A parent stands about 15 yards in front with a glove, as the target. Parent-safe, in the sense that the parent is the one who has to be ready.

1. Swing, try to hit the target.
2. Put a small dot on the ball and tell him to watch the dot. Kids look up early to see if they hit the target; the dot keeps the head down.
3. Three spots on the field, three parents, and you’ve got a station.

Ages 6 to 9. Fixes: the head that comes up before contact. And check the feet and hands every swing, because the biggest problem young hitters have is the setup, before the ball is ever pitched. The full batting drills post goes deeper on tee work and swing flaws.

Infield and Ground Ball Drills (Ages 6 to 12)

Ground balls are where lines do the most damage. A dozen kids at shortstop with one coach hitting fungoes is one grounder per kid per rotation. Everything below runs in pairs, so the reps go up by four without adding an adult.

Ready Position, Dry

Everyone in a line. No ball.

1. On “Ready,” a balanced, athletic stance, weight on the balls of the feet.
2. Hands at the belt. Not on the knees. Never on the knees.
3. Walk the line and physically move the kids who are wrong. Again.

Ages 6 to 10. Fixes: the flat-footed, hands-on-knees stance every kid has until someone moves him.

Short Hop

Pairs, 12 feet apart, facing. The receiver starts in the fielding position with his hands on the ground. Parent-safe.

1. The partner tosses underhand, trying to short-hop the ball right in front of the glove.
2. The receiver reaches and catches it before it becomes the in-between hop, the one that comes up at the chest.
3. Toss it back the same way. Vary the speed. Coach calls when to roll, so it stays a drill.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: hard hands. The in-between hop is the one that goes off the wrist. This teaches kids to go get the short one instead.

Over the Line

Fielders at second and short. A line in the dirt 10 to 15 feet in front of them.

1. Roll a ball at slow to medium speed.
2. As it crosses the line, the fielder takes his last two steps (right-left for a righty) and is down before the ball arrives.
3. Once they set up early on rolled balls, hit them. Move the line to match how hard.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the kid who bends over at the last second. He isn’t slow. He never learned when to get down.

Partner Ground Balls

Pairs in two lines 25 to 45 feet apart, one ball per pair, all balls starting in one line. Parent-safe.

1. Roll it. Field it with two hands. Throw it back.
2. Ten each, then switch lines.
3. Add the footwork and the throw once the hands are right.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: nothing specific, and that’s the point. It’s the base station for every age, the one you run when a station needs filling and the only adult available has never coached.

Two more for 10 and up. The three-ball pickup: three balls in a line, walk to each, stop about a foot and a half behind it, last two steps in sequence, bend at the knees, two hands to the chest, then jog it. Nobody teaches the last two steps into a ground ball, and this does. And the relay drill: on a low throw, the relay man backs up and takes it on the big hop so he has momentum for the next one. Mix line drives in with tennis balls, because a line drive at a ten-year-old’s face is scary and the tennis ball takes the fear out. The full fielding drills post adds first-base work and turning two.

Outfield Drills (Ages 8 to 12)

Outfield is where the kids who “aren’t infielders” get sent, and then nobody coaches them. At this age the first step is the entire position. These drills are all about the first step.

Drop Step, Dry

Players 5 feet apart in the ready position, coach 15 feet in front. No ball.

1. Coach points up and to his left. Players drop-step with the right foot to 90 degrees, as if a ball were over their right shoulder, and hold.
2. Points up and right. Left foot, 90 degrees, hold.
3. For a ball straight over the head, drop-step with the glove-side foot so the catch is made without reaching across the body.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the backpedal. A drop step to 90 degrees lets a kid run in a straight line to any ball. Backpedaling lets him fall down.

Crossover Step, Dry Then Live

Single file, coach 15 feet away facing the first kid.

1. Coach points right or left. The near-side foot pivots open and the far-side foot crosses over it. The first step is never with the near foot.
2. Live: the kid throws you the ball, you roll it 15 to 20 feet to a side, he breaks with the crossover and fields it.
3. He keeps the ball and hustles to the back. Next.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the false step. Every position uses it, so run it for the whole team.

Reaction Drill

Pairs in two lines 20 feet apart, room to move, one line with balls. The coach stands behind the receivers, where the throwers can see him and the receivers can’t.

1. Point down-right: the partner throws a ground ball to the receiver’s right. Point up-right: a fly ball over the right shoulder. Same on the left.
2. The receiver reacts with the drop step or the crossover, whichever the ball calls for.
3. Five to ten reps, switch lines. Coach switches sides.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the pause between seeing the ball and moving. It’s the best outfield drill for a coach working alone, because twelve kids are moving and one adult is pointing.

Backing Up

Two groups, left-center and right-center. Coach between the mound and second with a bucket.

1. Hit a ground ball into center, between the groups, at any speed.
2. One from each group breaks. Whoever gets there first fields it.
3. The other peels off and backs up 20 to 30 feet behind. Not 5 feet. Not on top of him.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: two kids colliding, and the backup so close he’s useless. Judgment can’t be lectured into a ten-year-old. It can only be repped.

Two more. The football drill, because they’ll ask: single file 10 feet from you, on “Go” the kid jogs up, hands you the ball, keeps running, and you throw it in a high arc like a touchdown pass for him to run under. And a coaching point that’s smarter than it sounds: tell them in advance which way the ball is going, because you’re teaching footwork, not surprise. A ball to the left fielder’s left and over his head is a drop step with the left foot, a turn and cross with the right, and a run at an angle. Once they own that, send two outfielders at once so they have to talk. The full outfield drills post covers throws to the cutoff.

Pitching Drills for Beginning Pitchers (Ages 7 to 12)

No velocity work. No breaking balls. A wild ten-year-old isn’t wild because his arm is slow. His front foot lands somewhere different every pitch, or his glove flies off to the side and takes his body with it. These fix direction and balance, which is all a first-year pitcher needs.

Direction Line

Draw a straight line in the dirt from the arch of the pitcher’s back foot toward home plate. That’s the whole drill.

1. Pitch. Look where the stride foot landed.
2. On the line, or just to the glove side of it, is right.
3. Anywhere else, draw it again. Works in a bullpen and in a game.

Ages 7 and up. Fixes: the stride that wanders. It shows a kid where he’s stepping, which he genuinely doesn’t know.

Block Drill

A 1-by-4 piece of wood under the heel of the back foot, pitcher in the stretch.

1. The block shifts the weight to the ball of the foot and off the heel.
2. Lift the leg into the balance position. Feel where the weight is.
3. A few dry, then let him finish the pitch to a catcher.

Ages 7 to 12. Fixes: the pitcher who leans back or sits on his heel at the top of the leg lift, which is most of them.

Balance and Gather With a Catch

Pitcher in the stretch, coach a few feet away with a ball.

1. Lift into the balance position and hold.
2. Coach tosses him a ball. He catches it without losing balance.
3. Then he delivers the pitch.

Ages 10 and up. Fixes: rushing. The balance point is where the pitch is decided, and this makes him stay there a beat.

Lead Arm

Ball in the glove, pitcher in the set position. A bucket 8 feet in front, directly on the line to home.

1. As the hands separate, flip the ball out of the glove and into the bucket.
2. To do it, the glove thumb turns down and the glove opens straight to the plate.
3. Miss, do it again.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the glove hand thrown off to the side, dragging the body with it. All the energy goes straight to home, and this teaches it without a word about mechanics.

Two games to end the station. Target throws: the pitcher kneels on his right knee about 30 feet from the plate, left foot planted toward home, and you set three balls in front of the plate, center and both corners, for him to throw at. It’s hip rotation and follow-through with the legs taken out. And the tee game for 9 and up: a screen behind the plate, a tee with a ball on it sitting on the plate, three pitches each from the rubber, points for knocking the ball off. The kid on deck feeds balls. The full pitching drills post adds arm action and a bullpen routine.

Catcher Drills (Ages 8 to 12)

Catchers don’t get a station. They get before practice and after it, because the position needs one-on-one time you don’t have during a rotation. Three rules and one technique.

1. Blocking drills start at 8, and 8 to 10 will find them hard. Use softer balls. The mechanics get their reps without the kid getting beaten up, and a kid who isn’t afraid of the ball learns faster.
2. Throw from 20 to 30 feet, not the mound. You’re not simulating a pitch. You’re putting the ball exactly where the drill needs it, over and over.
3. The tag: hands out front, knees flexed, stay low as the throw comes. Catch it and secure it with the throwing hand if there’s time. The right knee drops as both hands reach for the tag. Tag, clear, come up looking for the next throw.

Ages 8 and up. The full catcher drills post has the receiving, blocking, and throwing progressions.

Baserunning Drills (Ages 6 to 12)

Coaches skip baserunning for the glamorous stuff. Then they lose a game on a kid who ran a straight line at first on a ball in the gap. Three drills, and the third is the most fun thing on this list.

Circle the Bases

Half the team at home, half at second, two balls.

1. Go. Both groups run the bases at full speed, one at a time from each side.
2. Watch the path into first: a small banana, starting about six feet out of the box, never more than three feet outside the line.
3. Hit the inside corner of the bag with the left foot, left shoulder leaning in, at full speed with the foot pointed at the next base.

Ages 6 and up. Fixes: the straight line, then the wide turn. If they can’t find the arc, mark a spot in the dirt where the rounding starts.

Pillow Slide

Every kid brings an old pillow. Bring extras. Line up 5 feet apart, pillow directly behind each kid.

1. Drop into the slide onto the pillow. Learn the shape: one leg bent under, the other out.
2. Ten times, until it’s boring.
3. Then move to a soft patch of grass. Wet grass works great, and they’ll want to do it forever.

Ages 7 and up. Fixes: the fear. A kid who has never slid will slide late, slide wrong, and get hurt. This makes the first fifty slides free.

Get Low

Runner at first. Two coaches in front of second holding a broom between them at stomach height.

1. On the command, the runner breaks for second.
2. As he nears the broom he drops into his slide, and the coaches lift it so his hands don’t hit.
3. Short of the bag? Move the broom closer and tell him to start a step later.

Ages 8 and up. Fixes: the slide that starts too early or too late. The rule of thumb is about two body lengths from the base, and this finds each kid’s number. For 10 and up, add the situational piece: before every pitch, the runner knows the outs and whether he’s forced. A runner who doesn’t know the situation is a painter without a brush.

Practice Games Kids Ask to Play Again

Kids prefer contests. It’s their practice time, not yours, so the drills above should turn into games with a score as fast as you can manage. The receiving point games are already up top. Here’s the rest of the rotation.

• Four-corner and four-corner speed. Receiving and throwing, and the speed version does it under pressure, which is as close as a drill gets to a game. Ages 7 and up.
• Toss and catch elimination. Partners 10 yards apart, a set number of throws. Any ball on the ground and that pair is out. Back the lines up as it goes, and balance the pairs so it’s a real contest.
• Target bunts. Two towels in front of the plate, points for a bunt that lands on one.
• The one-strike game, 10 and up. Helmets on, one pitch each, and they’re taught to look for the first-pitch fastball, because at every level that’s what comes at least 80 percent of the time. They think it’s a game. They’re learning an approach.
• The old ones, for the day seven kids show up: One Old Cat, Over the Line, Work Up, Five Hundred, Pepper. The kids come early to play them.

Every competition needs two things: a scoring system that rewards the exact execution you’re teaching, and a payback for the losing side that changes every time. Get those right and the intensity in a practice game will pass what you see in a real one.

The full practice games post has thirty of them.

Which Drills at Which Age

The age tags above, in one place. This is the table to print.

Age	Run these every week	Add when ready	Skip for now
6 and under	Glove position, line drive off the tee, T-ball target, slap five, circle the bases	Quick feet, rolled ground balls in pairs, shuffle crow-hop	Short hop, over the line, anything pitching, blocking
7 to 9	Quick feet, square to target, shuffle crow-hop, two tees, soft toss, ready position, partner ground balls, football drill, pillow slide	Over the line, crossover step, direction line, block drill, get low	Balance and gather, blocking with hard balls, the one-strike game
10 to 12	Everything above, faster, plus short hop, over the line, three-ball pickup, drop step and crossover live, reaction drill, direction line, lead arm, warm-up catch on command	Situation ground balls, backing up, balance and gather, one-strike game, get low	Velocity work, breaking balls

One warning. “Everything above, faster” is not “everything above, longer.” A twelve-year-old’s station is still twelve minutes. He just gets more reps in it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some good baseball drills for a 12-year-old?

Short hop, over the line, and the three-ball pickup for hands and feet. The reaction drill and backing up in the outfield. The direction line and lead arm for pitchers. And the one-strike game, because at twelve they’re ready to learn an approach at the plate and they’ll learn it faster as a contest.

What are some good baseball drills I can do by myself?

A tee into a net, counting line drives in a row. The two-tee drill with a bucket and a cone if you only have one tee. Dry throwing on your own commands: block, break, throw. Wall rebounds with a soft ball, fired high with a crow hop and caught on the way back. And the T-ball target with a parent holding a glove 15 yards out.

What are some good drills for learning to catch a baseball?

Glove position first, then quick feet, then the point games built on both. The whole thing is two hands and the ball in the middle of the body. Move the feet to get there. Every catch made off to the side is a habit you’ll be fixing at twelve.

What are some good infield drills for 10U?

Short hop in pairs, over the line with a coach rolling, partner ground balls as the base station, and the three-ball pickup for the last two steps. Mix in line drives with tennis balls so nobody flinches.

What are fun baseball drills for 7-year-olds?

The T-ball target with a parent as the target, the football drill, four-corner, the receiving point games with extra swings on the line, and relay races between two lines. At seven, if it has a score, it’s fun.

Should a 12-year-old do drills in the off-season?

The coaching books are about the season, so we’ll keep this short: catch, tee work, and games, and nothing that adds throwing volume. The arm needs the rest more than the swing needs the reps.

Sources

• Drills and Instruction for Coaching Youth Baseball
• Coaching Baseball For Dummies
• Coaching Youth Baseball (American Sport Education Program)
• Baseball and Softball Drills: More Than 200 Games and Activities
• Making Little League Baseball More Fun for Kids
• The Baseball Coaching Bible
• Practice Perfect Baseball
• Turning Baseball Upside Down

Twelve drills run every week beat sixty run once. The age tag is the whole trick, and the one-flaw rule is the rest of it. Now put them on a clock: the practice plan templates are where these go.