The primary goal for Farm is for these young athletes to have a positive experience playing with friends, to learn the basics of the game, and to want to return to play the next season. Coaches are encouraged to offer all players the opportunity to pitch and catch and to let all players rotate regularly through each defensive position.
Here are the skills to teach in each of the key areas of the game, along with recommended videos on fun drills to help:
Sportsmanship
Sportsmanship is in many ways the most important skill to teach! We want our Farm players to know we expect them to:
- Have fun! Try hard - give best effort at every practice and every game
- It's okay to make mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to learn.
- Be a good sport - treat teammates, opponents, coaches, officials, and parents with respect
- Think as a team – play your position and let your teammates play theirs
- Cheer for teammates
Baseball and Softball IQ
The general concepts that a graduating Farm player should have are:
- Names of the defensive positions
- Names of the bases
- Infield v. Outfield
- Proper direction to run the bases
- The team bats in a specific order
- Object on offense is to hit the ball, advance to each base safely, and to touch home plate to score a run.
- Object on defense is to get in front of a batted ball, tag a base runner with the ball, or touch a base before the runner on a force.
- How outs are made including ground outs, force outs, tag outs and fly outs.
- Tip: A fun and effective way to enhance Baseball/Softball IQ is to watch games! Kids love a "homework assignment" to watch a game on TV with a parent and talk through the plays together.
Fielding
Throwing
We want to start teaching at an early age solid throwing fundamentals. At the Farm level, we should instruct the following while understanding that each player will develop at their own rate.
- Grip - 4 seam (2 or 3 fingers)
- Thumb under the ball
- Position entire body perpendicular to target (shoulders, hips, and feet)
- Look at target throughout the throw
- Point glove shoulder and elbow toward target
- Step directly toward target
- Arm moves in a circle
- Throw overhand - elbow above shoulder/hand above head. At this level, many players drop their elbow when throwing, resulting in “pushing” or “shotputting” the ball rather than throwing properly.
- Rotate and follow through with hips, legs, and arm
Catching
The fundamental catching skills we want to teach at Farm are:
- Square/facing the person throwing the ball
- Fingers up! Many kids hold out their glove for the ball to drop into it, rather than catch it in front of their body with proper glove positioning. (See windshield wiper drill below.)
- Keep eyes on the ball
- Step to/get in front of the ball
- Catch with two hands, using the glove to catch and throwing hand to clasp. (Use judgment, as some players will attempt to catch the ball like a basketball when using two hands. See the windshield wiper drill at the bottom of this section.)
- Hold the glove up, don’t catch with the ball held horizontally
- Hold the glove up, with fingers up - don’t catch with the glove out horizontally. Glove hand should move in windshield wiper fashion to catch the ball depending where the ball.
- Watch the ball into the glove and squeeze it
- Players should not be discouraged if they don’t catch the ball; the goal is to get their hand on it with fingers in the proper position.
- It's common for new players to be afraid of the ball, and may instinctively duck or flinch when thrown to. It may be useful to start with rolling the ball to these players, and then start with catching foam balls or tennis balls.
- You may find that players are not capable of playing an effective game of catch with each other - i.e., when playing catch to warm up, players do not catch properly or throw wildly. It may be more effective to work on catching and throwing drills separately, or playing catch with a coach. This is especially true early in the season, and hopefully players have mastered throwing and catching to be able to play effective catch with teammates during the season.
Fielding Ground Balls
Emphasize the fundamentals of fielding grounders:
- Get in front of the ball - body squarely facing the ball
- Feet shoulder width or wider
- Bend knees and drop butt to the ground (limit bending at the waist)
- Extend glove in front of body
- Keep throwing hand close to glove (alligator)
- Watch ball into the glove
- Grab the ball with throwing hand
- Throw the ball to the target
Fielding Fly Balls
Emphasize safety and communication, first and foremost, when fielding fly balls.
- Call it - "I got it!"
- Sprint to the ball (do not coast or drift)
- Get under the ball
- Catch with two hands
- For drills, consider using tennis balls, whiffle balls, foam balls, etc. to teach proper form for fly balls. Many players are afraid of getting hit with a baseball and will move out of the way to catch a pop up.
Fielder Roles
During games. all players are on the field in standard positions.
- Baseball/softball ready every at bat - eyes on the ball, glove out front, athletic stance
- Infielders should field balls to the infield (not outfielders), and outfielders should field balls past the basepaths (not infielders)
- Catch ground balls and fly balls, and step on or throw to base
- Tag a runner with the ball (ball in glove or ball in throwing hand)
- Farm players should have a fairly good grasp of where to go for the easiest out while on defense.
- Fielders should know where to position themselves before the ball is put in play.
- Fielders should learn the concept that once the ball is put in play, they have the responsibility of either fielding the ball, covering a base, or backing up another fielder.
- Ideally by the end of the season, fielders should be instructed on how to run a relay on balls hit to outfield.
Pitching and Catching
- Catchers should learn to crouch in the appropriate position, give a target to the pitcher, catch catchable pitches, and throw the ball back to the pitcher accurately and timely.
- Pitchers should be instructed on correct pitching mechanics. (See page on How to Teach Kids to Pitch for more information.)
Batting
A big developmental step at Farm is learning how to confidently face a player pitcher. Hitters should know the proper way to move out of the way of the pitch and how to time their swing according to the speed of the pitch.
Hitting a baseball or softball is the most difficult skill to master in perhaps all of sports! It will take lots of practice over the season to cover all of the mechanics. We want to break it down as follows:
Grip
- Grip the bat firmly (don’t squeeze or death grip)
- Hold hands together above the knob
- Hold bat with fingers (not deep in palms)
- Middle knuckles generally lined up
Stance
- Body perpendicular to pitcher
- Feet comfortably wider than shoulders
- Toes straight ahead toward the plate (or slightly pigeon-toed) and feet parallel with home plate
- Knees slightly bent with weight centered on the balls of the feet
- Upper body bent slightly at the waist
- Hands (not elbows) up
- Knob pointed slightly back toward catcher
Load
Loading is one of the most difficult aspects of hitting that will take years to master.
- Eyes on the ball
- Coil weight slightly to back hip (see the crossover drill below for players to get the feel of a proper coil/load)
- Move hands up and back (in a backwards "C" motion)
Stride
- Eyes on the ball
- Take small step with front foot directly toward the pitcher
Swing
- Eyes on the ball
- Swing hard!
- Keep head down through swing (eye on ball all the way to the bat)
Exiting the Box
- Do not watch the ball
- Set the bat down safely
- Look at and run through first base (don’t stop!) and turn to the right
- Listen to the base coach to continue to second base or stay put
* Hitting Done Right has lots of other great hitting drills as well)
Base Running
Here are base running basics at the Farm level:
- The very basic instruction to cover is to run fast, and listen to base coaches.
- After putting the ball in play, the batter should be instructed on how to sprint through 1st base, and then angle out. Then, the player should listen to the base coach on whether to proceed to second, or take a look and get back.
- When on base during an at-bat, runners should keep one foot on the base and lean forward toward the next base. After the ball is put in play, use the base to push off.
- Look at the base you are running toward (not the ball)
- Runners should be trying to hit the inside corners of bases and watching the 3rd base coach as they get close to 2nd base.
- Runners should be taught to tag up on a fly ball.
- Runners who are put out should leave the bases and return to the dugout.