Baseball Drills, Relay; A Fun Activity Designed To Perfect The Single And Double Cutoffs!

The baseball drills relay is, first and foremost, designed to perfect the single and double cut offs.

A fun activity for team defense, in it's pure state, it does a great job.

The drill can be altered to add the elements of multiple competitions and conditioning, generating a lot of excitement.

Equipment Needed

1. Baseballs. Suggest softies for younger and inexperienced players, for safety.



2. Players with gloves and caps.

Relay ~ The Drill

• Divide players into equal teams, numbers determined by space available, and age of players.



• Put each team in an extended line, spaced according to their age and throwing capabilities.



• Start the baseball for each team at the same end of each line.



• Player with the ball turns his back to his line. On the signal, each player with a ball turns and makes a throw to the next player in line, who catches the ball, turns and throws to the next, all the way down the line.



• Winning team is the first team to complete one time down the line, or whatever standard you wish to set.

Cutoff Drill Tips ~ From the Dugout

1. Emphasize players moving their feet to the baseball, not reaching.



2. Players raise both hands and yell "hit me", "ball", "relay", whatever term you like to use. The yelling is for the benefit of the outfielder, who will often times have his back to the relay man. With the yell, he is able to turn and throw to the sound.



3. Catch the ball on their glove side. The positioning for this begins as soon as they see the ball leave the throwers hand.



4. Catch the ball with 2 hands, turning to their glove side as they make the catch ( have them start anticipating the catch and be turning as they make the catch, it makes things faster.)



5. Overthrows must come back to the thrower, to remake the throw.

Relay, The Event

• After teams are set up, have each player set his hat on the ground next to him.



• Relay starts the same as before, only this time when the baseball reaches the other end of the line, that player sprints back up the line to the other end, while all other players move up one hat.



• This relay ends when all players are back at their own hat, sitting on the ground.



• This version adds the element of conditioning, the added excitement of the foot race as well as the throwing and receiving race.



• Players of all levels really like this drill. The throwing and receiving part is tougher for 6 and 7 year olds; but they improve quickly.