Core Training

3 Tips to Make Defensive Practice More Efficient

Defensive repetitions are crucial to any athlete bettering their game and abilities in the outfield or on the dirt but sometimes, defensive practices can be inefficient while eating up too much time. Let’s look at three ways to maximize your practice time:

1) Avoid players standing around: double “fungo” and roll ground balls

First and foremost your athletes cannot be standing around, the more repetitions they can take defensively the better. If you have two coaches who are able to fungo, utilize that! Have both coaches stand near the plate and hit to the fielders across from them. So, the coach hitting as a “lefty” will hit to the third baseman and shortstop while the “righty” coach will hit to the second and first baseman. Do you have a third coach who can hit outfield fungos? Have them take the outfielders so everyone is working.

Remember, your athletes don’t have to throw every time they field a ground ball. Especially if you are able to “double fungo” with your infielders, that is an incredible way to get a ton of reps in while also not burning out arms or causing injury. This is also a great way for athletes who are recovering from injury or simply need rest to continue getting some work in while protecting that arm. Make sure your athletes are going through their entire motion following the fielding of the ball up until they would throw. So that means they should still transfer the ball, move or set their feet, recover if there is a bobble, and bring the ball up and back as if they were going to throw before the rep is finished.

What if you are running a practice by yourself or is the only coach who can fungo? Easy! Work with one group at a time while the other heads to the side for “roll ground balls”. Everyone will line up and either a coach or player will roll fielders ground balls. Same rule applies, athletes should play through as if they are going to throw before returning to the back of the line. Roll ground balls can provide a lot of versatility, athletes can work on front and back hands, short hops, slow or fast rollers, etc. Skies the limit.

For outfielders, you can also do “roll ground balls” in the outfield where your athletes can work on their approach to the ball, collection of it, and pre-throw motion. If there isn’t another coach who can hit true fungos, outfielders can also work on drop steps and quick reads while a coach throws balls behind the athlete, challenging their range and angles.

2) Don’t disregard the role of pitching machines!

Even if you are an incredible “fungo” hitter, pitching machines can be very useful for help a practice run more efficiently and if you struggle with “fungos” it is a no brainer. Pitching machines can be used to launch fly balls to the outfielders, hit the outfield gaps, shoot challenging balls up the middle and into the holes of the infield with consistency, and more. They can also be really great when coaches simply need a break!

3) Keep the energy high

There are few things worse than a silent defensive session. When it gets quiet, athletes tend to loss focus and merely go through the motions without much thought. Everyone should be talking; cheering on and picking up their teammates; if you are throwing to bases and making plays, athletes should be chattering about that as well as any outs; etc.

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