365 Days to Better Baseball - Yelling Baseball Practice Drill

Developing Good On-The-Field Communication with this Yelling Baseball Practice Drill

Clear the mice off the baseball field with this yelling baseball practice drill.

It is important to develop players that are aggressive and want to catch balls hit in their area of the field, but this aggressiveness is dependent on communication among players, so collisions, or the threat of collisions, are minimized.

One of the first things I do at a baseball camp is try to get players to give out a yell. Yelling loud is so important for on-the-field communication and kids are often hesitant to this. The game can be dangerous until players learn to communicate on the field. Additionally, I find this yell makes kids more comfortable and less shy, which is important on the ball field.

Baseball practice drill

Along those lines, coaches should practice on-field communication at an early season practice, in order to explain that once on the field, it is no time to be shy and quiet, and that communication between players is essential. Before even taking the field, have players take turns yelling at their loudest, "I got it" and "Take it," which are the words that players will yell when calling for batted balls and for letting players know they heard and will allow the other player to catch the ball.

After the short yelling session, coaches can work on this communication on the field with fly ball and groundball communication drills on balls hit between players.

Remember, nothing worse than having quiet little mice on the field, not only is that boring, but as mentioned, very dangerous for ball players.