Baseball Training Tips and Drills

Baseball Training Tips and Drills  

The best baseball training tips and drills are those that do not go against the grain. Baseball players already have a lot of obstacles in their way to keeping them become the best player they can be. For this reason, it pays to spend some time thinking about how to get around some of these obstacles. One of the best ways to do this is to set yourself up for success from the start. Here, are few baseball training tips and drills that can help you do just that:  

1.  Always play in the best summer leagues possible.  Playing time is great, but you want to make sure you are playing the best when you get it.  When given the choice between playing time and playing in the best leagues, opt for the better leagues.  You will get better advice if you keep your ears open and can always practice more on your own to compensate for limited playing time. 

2.  Summer league should be used as experimentation for the regular spring season.  Use these leagues to practice adjustments to your swing or pitching motion.  This is a great time to practice new stealing techniques or new pitches.  The reason for this is summer league is not taken as seriously as the regular high school baseball season and it usually has more games allowing for more time to tinker with your swing, pitching, etc. 

3.  Summer and Fall are the time to strength train.  These periods of the year are when you have your chance to get stronger.  When the spring season comes around, you will only be focusing on maintenance work.  Pitchers should not even consider lifting more than one day a week during the season as it puts too much strain on their arms when taking into account their pitching outings. 

4.  Play baseball with older kids when you can.  By playing with people that are older than you, you will develop your skills faster and learn more.  By playing at a higher level, this will condition you to the stresses of high school baseball much faster.  Always opt to play on the JV team over the freshman or the Varsity over the JV.  Plus, if you are in middle school, try to make it onto the high school summer league times or at the very least, watch the high school games and pick the older players’ brains for tips. 

5.  Get a mentor.  Ideally, this would be a baseball instructor that is not a coach on your high school team.  You want a neutral party that you can go to for advice on your baseball training.  If you have to pay to get this help, don’t be afraid to do so.  A good mentor is worth his weight in gold as they can help get you back on the right path.   

6.  Make a pact with a teammate to push each other to get better.  By finding a teammate that is motivated to get better, you will find something you can always go play with to improve your swing through batting practice, practice your throwing, or simply keep you motivated.  Not every day you will be motivated to push yourself, a good teammate can give you that extra motivation when you aren’t feeling it. 

These baseball training tips and drills should help maximize your training by putting you in a position to succeed.  By thinking about your high school baseball career in a broader context, you will see how you can improve your game over time rather than what you can do in any one season.  This perspective will pay off as you get to realize more gains by your senior season.