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Life Lessons


Life Lesson #44: Beginning Baseball Practice Syndrome

Tips to avoid the most common practice flaw...

Can you recognize this common baseball affliction? A coach stands alone on the pitchers mound, a glove in one hand and a bucket of baseball at his side. Struggling to throw strikes, the coach fires batting practice pitches to a single batter, eagerly awaiting at home plate. Behind this batter is a catcher in full gear working hard to chase down errant pitches and foul balls. Scattered throughout the field are the remainder of the team, an assistant coach and several parents. The parents chat and the players giggle, but nothing gets done ? and no one gets better!

The situation described above is the most common inefficiency in youth baseball practices today, and it?s called Beginning Batting Practice Syndrome (BBPS).

BBPS is what youth baseball practice used to be like: one athlete hits, the rest of the team shags. I?ve practiced like this, I?ve coached like this, and I?ve seen hundreds of other coaches do the same. However, this is an obsolete method of running an offensive practice and needs to be stopped. Any coach will have a difficult time throwing consistent strikes from long distances, which means that the athlete is not getting good pitches to hit. Athletes end up expanding their strike zone to swing at ?anything close,? counterproductive to teaching offensive execution. It is the goal of Life Lesson #44 to help stop the spread of Beginning Batting Practice Syndrome and return the focus of an offensive practice to getting athletes swings ? and lots of them!

Beginning Batting Practice Syndrome is not unique to any geographical region, age level or body type. It can strike at any time and is widely recognized through these symptoms:

  • Large blocks of field time wasted with little accomplished
  • Coaches experience difficulties throwing strikes from 40+ feet
  • Hitters swing at pitches out of the strike zone (i.e. above their heads and below their feet)
  • Defensive players bored and distracted (specific examples include fits of fence-climbing, butterfly-chasing, hole-digging and teammate-teasing)
Beginning Batting Practice Syndrome many times is understandable. With limited baseball knowledge (let alone an understanding of how to run a practice), youth baseball coaches sometimes simply don?t know any better. We?ve found that with early detection, BBPS can be successfully cured with positive results for both player and coach. So, what can you do if you believe you have a case of BBPS?

Divide your offensive practice into as many stations as possible. This helps to break the team into small groups, where the athletes can get as many swings as possible. Depending on adult help and field/equipment availability, an offensive practice can involve upwards of 4-5 stations. Players will move from station to station, with rotation intervals depending on how much time is dedicated to offense for that particular practice.

Using a typical youth baseball field, following is a description of how BBPS can be avoided by using all available resources:

  • Station #1 ? Live Batting Practice: Taking place on the main diamond, the head coach tosses baseballs to one group for live BP. If possible, the coach sits on a bucket, behind a protective screen 15-25 feet away from the batter?s box. This increases his strike:ratio efficiency, giving the athlete more quality pitches to hit. If available, use your parents as shaggers, keeping the kids around home plate (or the dugout area) to quickly rotate.
  • Station #2 ? Soft Toss / Tee Work: Outside the playing field (perhaps in a bullpen or stretching area), set up a net and a tee for execution. This can be tee work or soft toss, depending on the competency of your adult help.
  • Station #3 ? Whiffle Balls: Down the right field line, or beyond the right field fence, set up a hitting area for short toss with whiffle balls. A second parent, an older sibling, or an assistant coach tosses darts from 20-30 feet to a single athlete, while the other athletes occupy defensive positions spread out behind the coach. Because whiffle balls are designed not to travel, defensive players can stay relatively close to the pitcher and rotate one position each batter.
  • Station #4 ? Bunting: Visitor bullpen or stretching area. Similar set up to the whiffle ball station in set up; bunting can take place in a small area. On one knee, an assistant coach throws baseballs to a single athlete, working bunting fundamentals (drag, push, etc.). Athletes rotate behind the coach, eventually ending up with bat in hand to execute.
Any of these stations can be eliminated or modified depending on a team?s specific needs. For a young team afraid of the ball, for example, the whiffle ball station could be turned into learning how to get hit (turn in, drop the bat and protect your vital body parts). Likewise, limited field space or equipment might keep the number of stations down to two or three. It?s a great idea to invest in a bucket of whiffle balls, and one or two catch nets. These nets are portable and can be set up in an enclosed space allowing the athletes to swing with the baseball traveling. A protective screen can be a league purchase, locked in a shed or to the fence for other teams to use.

As a coach, you can determine the focus of each station as well. Each working to support the whole, a specific station may be designed to provide instruction, repetition, or a combination of the two. If you have a parent that knows little about baseball, give them a tee-station with the instructions of placing the ball on a tee and keeping the kids safe (repetitions). If you have an older brother that plays high school ball, give him the assignment of working feet and stride specifically at the whiffle ball station (instruction) while you work hands and loading live on the field (instruction/repetitions).

By breaking the team into groups of 3-4 kids, everyone has more fun. Stations need only be 8-10 minutes long to get each athlete two or three rounds of swings. Athletes are entertained, and coaches have the opportunity to get more involved with individual players. The practice becomes much more efficient with little time for player distractions. It can be fun to set a goal for the number of swings desired for each player. For example, a realistic goal would be to get each athlete 50 swings over the course of a 40-minute batting practice. At 10-minute stations, that?s 12/13 swings per station (2 or 3 rounds).

On the contrary, it?s very easy to see how difficult it would be to get athletes 50 swings under the Beginning Baseball Practice Syndrome description. With limited pitches, and limited strikes out of those pitches, BBPS simply wastes time and accomplishes little. But all is not lost - BBPS can be cured virtually overnight. There is no fault or blame whatsoever, just an opportunity to put the days of BBPS behind you and a chance to operate an effective and entertaining offensive practice. Encourage as many parents and coaches to attend practice as possible, they?ll love the opportunity to strap on a glove and move around or, better yet, have the chance to work with a group of young athletes.


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