"Double Play Fielding" Drill

This drill comes from Richard Todd, our January 2001 Drill of the Month Winner.

SET-UP

Start with players (three or four) at second and short positions. Plus one or two first-basemen and one or two at third. Now fold in the infield - moving third-basemen to infield grass between mound and first.

One of the First/Third players serves as a back-up on overthrows. And a coach on the mound can help supervise the play, monitor mechanics, and offer encouragement.

RUNNING THE DRILL

Drill starts from first - off the bag.

First baseman throws grounder from his normal fielding slot to Shortstop who tosses to Second covering second base. Second baseman relays to first base (same first baseman who threw the grounder, now moved over and covering at the firstbase bag.) First baseman tosses to Third near mound who 'grounds' ball to next Second baseman - for toss to next Shortstop covering at second, for relay to same third-baseman who is now covering at first . Third tosses off to next First and cycle repeats. So the basic pattern is a criss-cross of thrown ground balls (to simulate hits), followed by soft tosses, then a hard throw to the glove, and another soft toss.

Not only does this simulate actual double play action but playters are working on fielding, tossing, throwing, legwork around the bags, timing, etc.

VARIATIONS

Short and Second fielders will begin to anticipate move to bag and will cheat towards it.

Ground ball throwers (around First) can maintain control by including the occasional short-side grounder - Third to Short or First to Second Also First and Third players can stay on their own sides of the bag or work in a rotation, moving from First to Back-up to Third (near mound).