What are some good out fielding drills for arm stength and footwork? Besides long toss

Welcome to the site!
Do-or-die on base hit, throw at a target such as a bucket.
Fence drill, find the fence and adjust to the ball; basehit that hits fence, pickup w/ bare hand w/ feet in position to throw.
Approach BP as the best opportunity to practice defensive skills.

To work on arm strength you might try 90 degrees drill- hip drill: Use a 4 seam grip. Have a partner about 25 feet apart. Mark off your stride line. With your hands at break point pull the ball down and out out of your glove. To gain momentum shift your weight from back leg to front leg. Point your front shoulder and elbow at your target and throw finish with a good follow through. This drill works on arm stretch and strength.
This is also a drill that pitchers use that is of benefit to outfielders as well. The difference is that you will use a 4 seam grip. Kneel on your drive leg knee with your stride leg bent towards your target. Make sure that your stride foot is in good position. Have the bulk of your weight over your back leg. Rotate your upper body so that your throwing arm gets into the cocked position. Focus on the target at this point. As you make your throw, transfer your weight from the back leg to the front leg by pushing off the back foot, this will take you from a kneeling to a standing position. This will make you focus on the hip rotation and arm extension and follow through. Have your target about 20 feet from you. This again helps develop strength and stretch.
Flintoide has some good drills for outside space for the most part. If your space is limited then use angled ground and fly balls to concentrate on your drop step and crossover. Overhead balls will help you to open to the glove side. If you have additional outfielders then you might add communication drills to help coordinate footwork and emphasize back up responsibilities and develop leadership skill especially as a centerfielder. Good luck this season.

AC-CF24:

There are good drills in the posts so far and more to come I am sure [at least I hope so*. However, Flintoide makes one of the best ovservations I have seen on this site regarding outfield fielding practice. "Approach BP as the best opportunity to practice defensive skills." I watch practices and when the batting practice portion comes, see coaches put eveyone in the outfield and infield and two players are out [one hitting BP and one on deck chasing fould bals or something*. The "fielders" simply let the ball drop or hit the fence and slowly retrieve it when they could *and IMHO should* be working on their start position, running backwards and cathing up with the flight of the ball over their head, working on improving their skill [or lack thereof] at quickly determing how hard a ball has been hit and the angle one must take to most efficiently get to the ball to cactch it, block it, knock it down, etc. These opportunities come only if the coach creates them and the players utilize them. 'You practice like you play" my father always told me and I find that adage more and more true as time goes on.

TW344

A smart arm is just as important as a strong arm, be a student of the game.
Take fly balls in worst conditions, looking into the sun and gale force wind.

Couldn't agree more about the BP aspect of becoming a better outfielder. I don't hit mine many fungos because I think that takes away some of the reading of the ball off the bat. I have them go to their spots in the OF and react to EVERY ball put in play by the hitter. If it is a ball that they won't play, take three steps and get back into position. I also stress to them to go after any ball they may have a shot at. How else will they know whether they can or not when game time comes?

As far as individual drills, some of the ones we do are as follows.

1. partners - routine ground balls, do or dies, fly balls. Stressing footwork and making an accurate throw. They roll/throw the ball to each other from about 75' apart.
2. drop steps (coach throws ball) - left, right, straight back. We also do a bad break drill where they drop step left or right and the coach throws the ball over the other shoulder and they have to adjust. The key to this drill going fast is to have each kid with his own ball that he hands to the coach to throw when he is up.
3. line drives (still throwing) - across from left to right, right to left, and straight in.
4. sun drill - coach stands with sun to his back and throws the ball up into it. Player must get used to fielding the ball by blocking the sun. This is one we don't do as often as the others since most games are night games.
5. communication - (throwing or fungo) get two lines an appropriate distance apart. One line outranks the other. Place the ball somewhere between them and have them work on whatever your communication system is. For example, mine is the unranking player can call ball 1 TIME ONLY and then get quiet. Ranking player can call him off by calling ball 3 TIMES. Other player backs up (make sure they don't just run by the other player but they "hook up" when they get there).

There are a few others, but these are the main ones I focus on.

There's also the "football drill" where one player or coach throws, and the player goes out for a "route"(always in a strieght line) and then the coach throws it over the player so they have to run and catch it, usually over the shoulder.

that's drill #2 above, but there is more to the drill. It's best if a coach is the one to throw the ball so he can look at the players' feet and make sure they are taking proper steps.

SJbaseball has some good drills also. One thing that you might add to lessen obstruction by the sun is to move to the side of the ball. It changes the angle of view in relation to the sun and it proves to be an advantage to the fielder.

Forgot to mention that the above response is about drill #4.

Another drill in addition to the turn & sprint drills previously described (e.g, with the coach throwing the ball over the fielder's head).

Have the coach hit fungos from HP over the fielder's head, with the fielders in their positions. This will help them learn to read the ball coming off the bat.

Remind the fielders of the flight tendencies of hits. E.g., an oppo field hit will tend to slice toward the foul line. Remind them to allow for the effects of wind. These things will help them take their initial drop step or crossover step in the proper direction and probably eliminate a head turn.

In the turn & sprint, be absolutely sure that they always turn their head - and never their body - as they go back.

Be sure their intial drop step or crossover step as well as their first few steps go directly back toward the fence. They don't want to make a big loopy turn as they head back. The big loopy turn will increase the chance of having to make an unnecessary turn on the ball hit on a line directly toward them.

Remind them to start back hard. They can always slow down, stop or even come back. But if they start too slow and the hit is out of reach, there is nothing to be done and there will be no catch.

On the previously described drills with the coach throwing the ball, ensure that they run through the catch. Throw the ball at the limit (or even a little beyond) of their range. So they learn not to slow down.

Sadly, very few players can properly execute the turn & sprint. Those that can, though, look like men amongst the boys.

Make sure to work this drill with IF'ers and OF'ers. Both need to be capable of executing the turn & sprint.

quote:

On the previously described drills with the coach throwing the ball, ensure that they run through the catch. Throw the ball at the limit (or even a little beyond) of their range. So they learn not to slow down.

Yes, very important. I tell my guys that the catch is not necessarily what is important. We are working on footwork, running properly (on balls of feet so head is not bouncing), etc. I try to lead them where the ball may be just out of reach (and I am actually successful MOST of the time!).

If you think that you want to improve on your jump to the ball you might try this drill. Its focus is to improve footwork and to force you to adjust quickly to your starting route to the ball.
You start in the ready position facing whoever is working with you. Scissor your feet as if you are doing an agility drill. The person you are working with throws the ball to an area that will push you to move and catch the throw with balance. Depending on space available you may complete the throw to a base.
Something else to consider during BP is working on cutoffs and relays on all balls hit to the outfield. This helps communication and reinforces all your fielding and throwing technique.
To help assess strength and weakness in your footwork try this drill. Use eight cones or something in their place. Place the cones in a square 15 feet apart. You then set up in the middle of the cones. Have a coach(preferably) or a partner about 15 feet in front of the cones. To simulate different situations the coach can call out what he wants. He might call ball over the shoulder and throw to a corner. If the ball is thrown over your right shoulder you would make your drop step, crossover and make the catch and stop at the back left corner. He might call for a sliding catch, you would go from the back left cone to the front right cone. From the front right cone you might practice a diving catch going to the front left cone. From this point he might call over the shoulder to the middle back cone. From there he might call do or die to the middle front cone. In the second part of the drill the coach uses a stopwatch to check quickness from one cone to the other as the player reacts to balls rolled or tossed there. This can be a fun drill and it also allows you find areas that you may need additional work.

batting practice, when you are in the outfield just don't goof off with your team mates. i go straight out to centerfield, stay as far away from everyone to give myself the most space and i run like hell after every single ball that is hit. this is the best time to work on your outfield skills because for one, most hitters in bp are just trying to show off most of the time trying to hit every single ball over that fence so you get a lot of pop ups and this is time you can really work on everything...



you just have to take bp

SERIUSLY

dont just mess around

There's never enough talk about OF play here...I love this stuff! I use most of these drills. AC, you've gotten some good advice.

I do add one thing that wasn't mentioned here. In all of our OF drills, the play is not over until the OF crow hops...after the player fields the ball, he must crow hop (sometimes they throw, but often I don't have them throw, just crow hop).

For instance, when we run the QB drill, the coach throws to the outer reach of the player. I would say that I slightly overthrow about half of the time. If the player catches the ball, he quickly comes to a stop, and crow hops toward his target. If the ball is over him, he runs it down (base runners are running!), picks it up, and crow hops to his target.

Same is true on almost all OF drills.

In addition to practicing proper footwork, this builds the habit of hustling through the play until the ball is thrown in.

Mike F

I have not seen it mentioned here, but I might have missed it. The fence drill, where the player gets to the fence and comes back for the ball if neccessary. Another way to run the passing drill that has been mentioned is to have the player looking over one shoulder and throwing or hitting it over his head on the other side forcing him to make the turn inward to get to the ball. I've seen many player turn outward and lose the ball. One other I have used mostly for confidence is to start them on the ground laying down and they get up with the crack of the bat find it field it and make the throw. Last but not least the batting practice everyone mentions, sounds great but I bet 90% of practices I watch it never happens. Spent last fall in a league where the last 45 -60 minutes was live bp and very few players were using the time effectively in the field. The few players that tried and then someone would go stand next to them, the coaches didn't pay any attention to it at all.

quote:

Originally posted by 2bagger:
Another way to run the passing drill that has been mentioned is to have the player looking over one shoulder and throwing or hitting it over his head on the other side forcing him to make the turn inward to get to the ball. I've seen many player turn outward and lose the ball.

The problem is that most of the time the bad break is on a ball crushed that you cannot make the inward turn and still get to the ball. We actually work this drill where they turn the other way. Yes, they have to take their eyes off of the ball, that's why you need to work on it!

Another drill that I've used many times is to have one fielder at a time stand directly in front of the coach. On the coaches command, the player will spin in a circle while focusing on the ground, thus throwing off his/her equilibrium. The coach will then yell "ball" and toss the ball into the air 10- 15 feet away from the player. The player must find, call, and catch the ball without it hitting the ground. Can also be done with two players for communication purposes. I've always found this to be a great drill, because when you are tracking a ball on a dead sprint, your equilibrium is thrown off a bit and this drill simulates that pretty well.

Sometimes I like to use my pitching machine for fly balls. That way the fielder has to pick up the ball and judge it as opposed to them knowing when it is coming to them with a fungo