Bottom of the Ninth, Bases Loaded

Baseball is America’s pastime for a reason. It is a wonderful game, full of action, suspense, and drama. It is an incredibly difficult game to play perfectly (there have only been 23 perfect games in the 135 year history of the MLB), and yet it can be played by anyone who can lift a bat. It is unique in its structure; the offense never possesses the ball, and there is no game clock.

All of these aspects make baseball an enticing game for young athletes. Sometimes it can take as little as giving them a ball and a glove to get them playing during recess and after school. Below are nine tips and tricks to help you with your baseball instruction. If you are looking for more complete instructions for teaching baseball, make sure to check out the great resources Lesson Planet has reviewed, such as this game, which teaches many of the basic rules, this lesson, which teaches the basics of the game with a focus on social skills, and this vocabulary worksheet, which could help reinforce that learning.

Fielding

1. Play Catch - Catch is the iconic baseball activity that fathers have been playing with sons for generations. It is remarkably fun, easy to pick up, and great for teaching fundamentals. Give your class time to play catch and get used to this low-impact, low-intensity activity. This is the quickest and easiest way to get kids doing something they recognize from the sport, and to get them moving.

2. Teach Proper Throwing Technique - It is safe to assume that most of your aspiring fielders will, either from instinct or practice, know how to throw a ball correctly, but since everyone will be required to do this during the course of a game, make sure everyone is practicing proper technique. Be sure that your players are throwing (not catching!) with their dominant hand, that they are stepping with their opposite foot, and that they are following through with their throwing arm.

3. Watch the Ball Into Your Glove - This is good advice in any situation. Whether in a full baseball game or just a game of catch, encourage your young athletes to watch the ball into their glove. Many of them will instinctively turn their heads or close their eyes at the last minute. This can result in missing catches, but it can also result in injury. In every situation where a ball is coming toward them, your young athletes should be watching the ball all the way into their gloves.

Batting

4. Safety - Batting is one of the most enjoyable parts of playing baseball, but it can also be dangerous if done irresponsibly. Teach and reteach proper batting safety. At school, players should be taught to only hit the ball when the defense is ready. The last thing you want is for your infielders to be unprepared when a line drive is hit in their direction. Also, DO NOT THROW THE BAT! This habit appears to be instinctual, but it must be stopped as quickly as possible, especially if you are playing with aluminum bats. It is way too common for a batter to unconsciously let the bat go after they have hit the ball but before their swing is finished, flinging the bat to the side. This is incredibly dangerous. Additionally, don’t allow players on deck to wait anywhere near a batter’s non-dominant side (the side the bat may be flung to).

5. Watch a Video - Batting is perhaps the most technically difficult aspect of baseball. Remember, professional players are considered “good” if they hit only three out of every ten pitches. If possible, have your batters watch some video of a batter. Even better, if you can take videos of them batting and show it to them, you could break down their form and where they need to improve.

6. Keep Your Back Elbow Up - Do you have batters who are making strides with form and making contact with the ball, but still need just that last little something to hit the ball well? Tell them to keep their back elbow up when they are in their stance, getting ready to hit the ball. If they need more direction, they can pretend that a string is tied around their elbow, pulling it up to the sky. This one piece of advice is amazingly helpful when you are trying to put the final pieces together for a batter. This change in batting stance forces the batter to drop the barrel of the bat more when going through his/her motion, getting it just that little bit more underneath the ball. This one tip can be the difference between consistently hitting ground balls and consistently hitting home runs.

Base Running

7. First Base Is First - It can be fairly embarrassing to finally hit a ball in a game, only to sprint to third base as the fielders laugh and your teammates yell at you. Avoid this embarrassment for your athletes by making sure they know why first base is called first base. It’s where you run to first!

8. Multiple Base Runners - You have explained the rules of base running, and your base runners feel confident in their abilities, but how do those rules change when there is more than one base runner? Make sure your young athletes know that they cannot pass runners that are ahead of them and they cannot share bases with them. Making sure to cover these aspects of base running before a game will cut down on a lot of confusion.

9. What’s a Force Out? - This can be one of the most confusing rules to teach to beginners. In this situation, I try to make as few conditions as possible for them to remember. If the ball gets to the base before they do AND someone on their team is on or running to the base behind them, they are out. Try to show examples if you can, highlight it when it happens in a game, or even set up sample scenarios. The more your young athletes see this situation the more it will start to make sense.

With these nine tips you will make baseball players out of your students in no time. If you have kids that are still having a hard time connecting to the game, here is a great resource about a teenager uncovering a wealth of history about the sport just by writing to the players on his baseball cards. Baseball is a wonderfully rewarding sport. With these tips in hand you'll soon have everyone in your class enjoying America's favorite pastime.