Baseball and softball players and coaches are no strangers to the frustration of being unable to practice on the field due to poor weather conditions. This is particularly true during the winter months when even the nice days can be below freezing. Nevertheless, the dedicated know that if you can track down an indoor facility, whether it be a warehouse or gym, you can still make the most out of your offseason and rainy days. Indoor practices are a time to focus on developing the finer points of your game by isolating particular skills. Here are some of our favorite indoor drills to help you improve your game no matter the weather.

Soft Toss

Focus: Developing a Consistent Swing

            This drill isn’t something your typical baseball and softball player or coach wouldn’t be familiar with. But the beauty of this drill is that, while it’s great if you have access to a batting cage, it doesn’t require one. For set up, all you need to do is find a padded wall or an L-Screen and grab a bucket of wiffle balls. The key to success with soft toss is repetition of a consistent and technically sound swing. Make sure, whether it be a coach or a fellow player, that the feeder is paying attention to your swing and informing you of any issues. As an added bonus, this drill can be tweaked to help a player improve hitting up or down in the zone by simply tossing high or low. We offer a few different types of Toss Machines. The JUGS TOSS MACHINE and the SKLZ LIGHTNING BOLT PRO TOSS MACHINE

Hitting Golf Balls

Focus: Improving Hand-Eye Coordination

            Set-up for this drill starts out the same as the last, find yourself a padded wall or L-Screen. Keeping in mind that you’re indoors, grab a bucket of golf wiffle balls and proceed to soft toss them to the batter. The great thing about this drill, besides changing the focus of the drill to hand-eye coordination, is how customizable it is. Start out using a normal bat but move on to a broom stick or wiffle ball bat. The thinner the bat, the harder and better the drill. In addition, you can shift the focus of the drill from hand-eye coordination to practicing your follow through by tossing two balls, one in front of the other, and trying to hit them both on the same swing. You can get all the golf balls you need by clicking here!

High Five Drill

Focus: Refining Underhand Toss Follow-Through

            Due to the rarity of its use, barring second and short, the underhand toss is often overlooked but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. The key to a consistently accurate toss is the follow through, thus the focus of this drill. Line up 10 to 15 feet in front of your partner or coach and assume your stance to field a ground ball. Have them roll you the ball, field it, and toss it back to them. Instead of stopping there, keep your hand up and run to your feeder and only lower your hand after you’ve received a high five. It’s a little silly, but it instills a solid follow through into your muscle memory and as an added bonus makes your push the ball rather than roll it out of your hand. 

Pass Patterns

Focus: Finding Fly Balls Over the Shoulder

While you can’t break out the fungos indoors, that doesn’t mean the outfielders can’t get something out of the day. To practice tracking down those deep fly balls, run a pass pattern drill. One person, coach or player, can line up as the “QB” and the other as the receiver. Let the fielder know when to take off, say “hut” if you want, and toss the ball so they have to catch it in stride. Catching fly balls over your shoulder is no easy task and this is a great way to practice finding the ball in the air. Increase the difficulty by lining up directly in front of the “QB” and practice finding the ball as it comes into view directly over your head.