| Open professional baseball tryouts are designed to | | | | The glove drills starts off with separating players |
| help scouts determine the physical talents and | | | | in groups of 4 or 5. (If you are just with yourself |
| abilities of aspiring baseball players. | | | | and your coach, find a friend or two to help.) Line |
| Though many of the drills that young MLB | | | | the people up and put their gloves in the outfield |
| hopefuls are put through might seem random. | | | | at about 25 foot intervals apart, away from |
| This is because different drills are put to people to | | | | them. They start the drill with a ball in their hand |
| test their skills level. While one person trying out | | | | and run to the first glove and set the ball on it |
| might have a killer pitch and he knows it, a scout | | | | and come back to the line and go back and get |
| might want to see what the person's skill level is | | | | the ball and come back to the line and go to the |
| with other types of baseball maneuvers. | | | | second glove and set the ball down and go back |
| Scouts look for speed, arm strength, glove skills, | | | | to the line and so on and so forth, until all the |
| and hitting skills and overall mechanics. The | | | | players have gone through and the winners get |
| tryouts are grueling and not like any version of | | | | out of laps at the end of the practice. |
| American Idol you've seen. There is no "nice" | | | | SPEED QUICKNESS AND POWER |
| judge. Instead, baseball scouts simply call out the | | | | In any good baseball training program, player |
| names of those they like. The rest of the players | | | | development is a primary concern. As players get |
| go home, and many of theme eventually give up | | | | older they also raise their level of function in the |
| on their dream. | | | | game. One of the areas to try to improve is the |
| But not unlike any talent-based industry, hearing | | | | physical or talent area. If you are at all seriously |
| "no" is just part of the game. It is up to you and | | | | about playing professionally you must first be in |
| your trainers to make sure you are getting all the | | | | the talent pool of players. If you can't do the |
| necessary drills and skill-building exercise to take | | | | physical levels, no one will look at the skill or |
| you to your goal of becoming a professional | | | | playing abilities. |
| baseball player. | | | | A well rounded pre-season conditioning program |
| I have compiled some of the best drills for | | | | starts when the players get back from Christmas |
| cross-skill development that will give you a leg up | | | | break. Work should be focused on 3 areas |
| in the competition and hopefully win you the | | | | essential to playing baseball at a professionally |
| interest of a baseball scout. | | | | competitive level - speed, quickness, and power. |
| AROUND THE WORLD DRILL | | | | The first day should be spent testing the |
| The "Around the World" drill is a great conditioning | | | | components of each skills set that are vital to an |
| exercise that will help any baseball player develop | | | | overall skill matching assessment. Test items can |
| physically. | | | | include: |
| Here's how it works. | | | | · 40 yard sprint |
| Take the players to the foul pole in left or right | | | | · 10 yard sprint |
| field. Then time them from foul pole to foul pole | | | | · Standing 2 footed vertical jump |
| to get a good accurate base time. Then have a | | | | · 30 second dips |
| set time that they should complete each of the | | | | · 30 second sit-ups |
| laps. Some choose seven laps, some others. The | | | | · Home to 1b |
| number should be based on the number of innings | | | | · Bench press |
| one would play professionally. A good hint is that | | | | · Dot jumps |
| coaches should remember to adhere to is to not | | | | · Diamond push ups |
| let a lap count if it is under time. This will help the | | | | After the testing is done, you should have a good |
| player push himself to get it right. There is no | | | | two months dedicated to a program that |
| "almosts" in pro baseball. | | | | incorporates exercises, running, and strength |
| DIVE BACKS | | | | training. Once this part is done, practice the test |
| Besides basic conditioning, this drill helps to build | | | | points listed above again. This will help you |
| the players speed and quickness back to the bag. | | | | accurately measure your progress and where to |
| Also, it is helpful to work on quickly leaving the | | | | improve. |
| bag as well as helping the players to recognize | | | | THE 60 YARD DASH DRILL |
| how big of a turn they can make around a bag to | | | | This is used to determine sheer sprint speed, and |
| make sure that they get back in case of a throw. | | | | it is chosen to determine the athlete's ability to |
| Here's how a good Dive Backs drill is set up. | | | | run from the length of two bases. If you decide |
| The players start out at Home Plate and run | | | | to incorporate this for your child, do so sparingly |
| around first base, making an aggressive turn, and | | | | and make sure that your child is warmed up. Also |
| then dive back into the bag. After diving back | | | | reduce the length from 60 yards to only twice |
| they get up as fast as they can and head to | | | | the distance from home to first. Of course, make |
| second base to do the same thing. They do this | | | | sure that your child is medically approved to do |
| also at third then slide feet first into home plate | | | | sprinting. Keep the number of such dashes very |
| to end their round. | | | | low and GRADUALLY build up over time. |
| A good way to prove the get back theory is to | | | | Here is a good pointer: |
| have an outfielder and a second basemen trying | | | | When asked to hit, scouts do not look at the end |
| to get a player out every couple of times | | | | result of whether the ball was a hit, home run, |
| through. This exercise works wonders for agility | | | | foul ball, etc. Instead, they look at mechanics in |
| and speed skills which is an absolute necessity to | | | | order to determine if there is a "loop" in a batter's |
| play in the major leagues. | | | | swing, weight transfer, and the batter's overall |
| THE GLOVE BASEBALL DRILL | | | | approach to the plate appearance. If you are able |
| Conditioning is a grueling task, so some fun | | | | to introduce your child to one of the scouts during |
| elements need to be used as well. A good fun | | | | a break at the tryout, ask the scout to give you |
| conditioning drill is great because you can make | | | | a minute to understand what he likes to see in his |
| them the hardest and the fun elements makes it | | | | ideal batter. You may learn quite a bit. |
| not so bad. | | | | |