Baseball Coaching Resources

Drills, routines, coach cards, and game tools for youth baseball — ages 9–12

What's here: Reusable, age-appropriate coaching material aligned with modern best practices (MLB Pitch Smart for arm care, current swing/throw mechanics, no outdated cues). Print and laminate the player and coach cards; keep the drill cards as a back-of-pocket reference. Sections are arranged from most-used at the top (game day, routines) to deepest reference at the bottom (drill catalog).

Game Day

Tools you actually open during a game.
Game Lineup Tracker Visual lineup with batting order, jersey numbers, and inning-by-inning fielding rotations. Generate a shareable URL — adjust on the fly during the game and the link updates on every coach's device.
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Routines

Reusable sequences for every practice and game. Run them the same way every time so kids know what's coming.
Warm-Up Routine — Coach (full reference) Step-by-step coach reference: dynamic warm-up, arm care, throwing progression with a distance diagram, game-day T-45 → T-5 timing overlay, hot-weather adjustments, and pitcher bullpen add-ons. The source of truth for warm-up sequencing.
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Player Card — Before Practice (laminate) Single-page front, kid-facing. Get-loose, dynamic warm-up, arm care (with Y-T-W stick figures), and the catch-play progression — all checkboxes, big bold text, color-coded sections. Hand it out and let them run the warmup themselves.
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Player Card — Before the Game (laminate) Single-page front, kid-facing. T-45 → T-5 minute timeline, position-specific warmup blocks (infield / outfield / catcher), and a starting-pitcher bullpen panel that ends T-10 before first pitch.
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Practice Plans

Time-blocked templates for structuring practice. Pick a length and focus, fill in the skill blocks.
Practice Structures (templates) Seven reusable plans — 75-minute standard, 60-minute quick, 90-minute extended, hitting-focused, defense-focused, plus two 12U plans (90-minute standard and a battery & situations day) that add baserunning-leads and team-defense blocks. Each is a minute-by-minute schedule with warmup, skill blocks, water breaks, live reps, and wrap-up.
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Tryouts & Player Evaluation

Print, clip to a board, and fill in by hand at tryouts. Simple 1–5 grades that feed your team-placement or draft decisions — works for rec/instructional and competitive travel.
Tryout Evaluation Sheet One-page landscape grid on a 1–5 scale: jersey #, name, and grades for fielding, throwing, hitting, baseball IQ, running/athleticism, pitching, and makeup (coachability/effort/focus). Plus a positions-played column, an optional home-to-first time, a priority/tier column (star known players or families you want), and notes. Aligned with Little League's five-skills evaluation and standard youth tryout templates.
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Drills & Coach References

Organized by skill. Drill cards describe setup, execution, and coaching points; coach reference cards focus on cues and fault diagnosis. All laminate-friendly. Most skill cards now have a 12U / Advanced section at the bottom for the more mature group (leadoffs, rundowns, holding runners, situational hitting) — plus a dedicated Baseball IQ card.
Conditioning & End of Practice Base running conditioning, fun finishers (knockout, pickle, home run derby), and cool-down stretches. The actual warm-up sequence lives in the Routines section above.
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Throwing Drills Crow hop & throw for outfielders, quick-release rhythm for infielders, long-toss-day for arm development, and target throwing for accuracy. The daily 5-stage warmup progression is in the warmup routine.
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Fielding Drills Ready position and first step, rolled-grounder progression, triangle footwork, drop step for fly balls, short-hop / paddle work, infield stations, communication ("I got it!"), and cuts & relays. 12U: rundowns/pickle, first-and-third defense, double-play feeds & turns, and bunt defense.
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Hitting Drills Stance & load check, tee work (basic and inside/outside), soft toss, front toss with L-screen, one-hand drills, live BP, and bunting fundamentals. Pairs with the Tee Work coach reference below for cues and fault diagnosis. 12U: sacrifice/squeeze bunts, two-strike approach, and hit-and-run / move-the-runner.
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Tee Work — Coach Reference (Cues, Checks & Faults) Companion to the Hitting Drills card. The 6 fundamentals every modern hitting coach agrees on, a tee-positioning diagram (inside / middle / outside + high / belt / knee), an 8-row fault-and-fix table, and a universal "say this / don't say" panel so you stay aligned with other hitting coaches in earshot.
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Pitching Drills Pitch Smart 9–12 safety limits up front (75/day at 9–10, 85/day at 11–12, rest tiers, no breaking balls), then balance point, knee-to-knee delivery, full windup, stretch position, fastball and changeup grips, target zones, pitcher fielding practice, pickoffs, simulated innings, and the towel drill. 12U: holding runners (slide step), live pickoffs, and pitch-outs / running-game PFP.
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Catching Drills General catching for everyone (two-hand catch, quick transfer, ball tracking), then catcher-specific work: stance (traditional plus modern one-knee), framing, blocking balls in the dirt, throw-downs to second, and fielding bunts & pop-ups. 12U: throw-downs to third, pop-time builder, and double-steal / pitch-out reads.
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Baserunning Drills Run through first, turning for two, steal timing, reading passed balls and wild pitches, first-to-third on a single, sliding (with explicit head-first safety rules), tagging up on fly balls, and full-diamond situational running. 12U: primary & secondary leadoffs, reading the pitcher for the jump, and aggressive extra-base reads.
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Baseball IQ & Game Situations 12U The thinking layer for the mature group: the pre-pitch "know your job" routine, runner on 3rd with less than two outs, two outs with a runner on first, bases-loaded force priorities, cutoffs & relays (who lines it up), and a live-situations scrimmage. Walk-throughs first, then add a ball and runners.
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