We have incorporated Bunting into our everyday warm-ups. The players did their normal throwing routine and then with throwing partners One grab a bat and 5 baseballs and threw 5 "pitches" to be bunted, then they switched. We did 2 rounds of this every warm up. It helped to have "pitchers" throw from about 30 ft from one knee, and to have them throwing as a group and retrieving as a group. This helped our bunting a great deal and only cost 5 min a day.

Is there anything you've worked into warm-ups that has helped your team?

Our IFs will go through shorthops/picks - 10 each of front, forehand, declared backhand & crossover backhand.

Have pitchers play "change-up catch". this is where they are simply playing catch using their change-up grip (whatever it may be).
Remember, they play catch their whole lives holding the ball a certain way, and then with a man on third and the game on the line, they change their grip to throw a pitch... I'd like them to have some more experience throwing the ball with that grip.

Trojan Skipper - Love that one (Changeup Catch)- we'll be doing it soon!
We have a couple:
1. I call it "4 Corner Bunting", where the kids get in small groups at all 4 bases, using whatever base they are at as home plate. We then use the baselines at 1B/3B lines and work on all different types of bunts.

2. "The Gauntlet". Conditioning drill that incorporates bunting, sprinting to 1B, plyometric ladders, quarterbacks & baserunning. Pretty crazy (not sure where I came up with it)....but the kids like it better than straight sprints and it can be a great workout. If interested, I'll explain it better.

***Keep em coming guys. Great stuff!

Run downs...break into 4 lines, everyone involved. Minimal throws is our philosophy, runner stays in it as long as possible. Runner flips ball the man behind him, he picks side, holding ball up (never go back to glove or pump) other "Fielder" calls ball, one snap throw. If the runner breaks back to original spot, next guy fills in. Once and out is gotten, the guy who caught the ball/made tag flips to next man, he is now the runner. God as my witness, in 11 years of coaching HS baseball, I've never had a team not get a guy out or had an error on a rundown.


***Coaching point:
1. Pick a side (Throwing arm side, keeps lane for throw open and vision for receiver)
2. Keep ball high and visible. Do not put it in glove or pump throws.
3. Snap throws only (darts).

the first thing we do in practice everyday is baserunning. pitchers throw a holding runners bullpen while baserunners work on leads and jumps. catchers will make some throws live. we will throw bullpens with one or two pitchers according to our pitchers schedule. if no pitchers are available we use coaches. middle infielders/3rd baseman work on covering the bag. we make it competitive.

Coach Knight:
When you get a minute expand on your "gauntlet" if you would. thanks

Coach Knight,
Please explain your Gauntlet , or send that along with any info to me.

Guys-
My "Gauntlet" is nothing all that fancy...just an idea I came up with one day to make conditioning a little more fun.

Step 1 - Player bunts a baseball thrown from the mound. After bunting the ball, the player must go field it and sprint to 1B. Objective is to push bunt down the 1B line (the bunt my guys struggle with the most) so you don't have to run across the field to 1st.

Step 2 - After crossing the 1B bag, players run through our plyometric ladders that are set up behind the bag, and follow that by doing deep-knee hops over 5 consecutive batting tees located beyond the ladder. This is a good plyometric component.

Step 3 - After hopping over the final tee, the player will sprint to the RF foul pole, touch it and sprint toward the coach located in right-center field. This where they do a "Quarterback" - they flip the ball they have (from the bunt they did in Step 1) to me and then sprint past me. I throw a "touchdown" pass over their head that they attempt to catch on the run.

Step 4 - After retrieving the ball from the Quarterback (if they don't catch it), the player proceeds to 2B where he gets a secondary lead and then sprints to score from 2B. The player will peel off 3/4 of the way to the plate to avoid getting in the way of the bunter (who is doing step 1).

***It is a unique way to get bunting, sprinting, plyos and baserunning into one drill - and you can have the entire team basically doing it at once.
Going through it once isn't too bad....but we usually do 3 or 4 and that can be enough to get some guys "bent over" if they go full speed!

Wow - that is an amazing drill. Thanks for sharing it with us.

So it's not exactly "warm-up" but more our end of the day conditioning. We've even been known to do it after a game.. CoachB25 might remember seeing us do it a couple years ago after a conference game. And I'm really not sure if this didn't come from him in the first place!

We call them "home runs" and they are tons of fun

Sprint home to first, then jog all the way back to home. Sprint home to second, jog to homeplate. Sprint home to 3rd and jog to homeplate. Sprint all the way around the bases. That's One

We start with one and do it once or twice per week. We build up to 7. By the end of the season, we run 7 home runs in a row! It is just under 2 miles of constant running.