Variation of the Around the Horn Drill
Tonight we did a variation of the “around the horn” drill. Everyone has thrown the ball around the horn. While it seems pretty boring, if you get the ball moving fast enough, it can be very effective. We like to usually do it like this:
- Straddle 3rd, 2nd, and 1st base.
- Pitch to the catcher.
- Have her whip the ball to 3rd, then 2nd, then 1st, then home.
- Catcher whips to 3rd and you start all over.
It is fun to see how many times you can get around without an error.
For variety we advance to “making a tag” when they receive the throw at each base.
Tonight we switched it up a bit. We had the following throwing pattern:
Catcher —> 2nd —> 3rd —> 1st—> home.
I feel that the catcher to 2nd is a more effective practice for the catcher. Likewise, 2nd to 3rd is a good practice for “pickoff” once the out is recorded at 2nd. Third to 1st is a throw that is often made and almost always the 1st baseman has to catch for the out and immediately fire home.
This went very well, and while it didn’t move quite as fast, it was much more “game friendly”.
Throwing and catching are simple skills that are often overlooked. It is usually boring to practice them, so coaches sometimes neglect them. They are too important to neglect, finding fun drills that hone those skills w/0 the kids even recognizing they are practicing is the key.
Have you used a modified drill before? Post a comment below and let us know about it.
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