Teaching baseball to kids can be a rewarding experience. I spent most of my preteen and teenage years on the baseball field hashing out my skills under the supervision of a coach. And after my playing career was over, I wanted to share my technical knowledge with the next generation.
What I learned within a few years of coaching is that it’s much harder to build a baseball practice plan for 11 and 12 year olds than it is for teenagers. Their pitching strengths and fundamentals aren’t as developed yet, and their attention span works differently too.
Though I’ve coached kids under 12 who already had a few years of baseball experience, their fundamentals were often lacking. So I had to take a different approach when planning out youth baseball practice drills for this promising young bunch of players.
I figured that pushing them too hard is never the right way. Preteen kids often have a short attention span and can lose interest fast if the going gets tough. So I had to keep the drills simple and digestible while making sure they still accelerate a kid’s growth and understanding of the game.
Below are my personal favorite baseball drills for 12 year olds, the ones I’ve used over the years to teach kids the basics and get them a step closer to their dreams of becoming major league baseball stars.
Best Baseball Drills for 11-12 Year Olds
Getting young players ready for a game takes hard work and dedication, not just from the players but from the coach as well. You need to motivate them and work them through different drills to hone their skills and take them to the next level. But you don’t want to push too hard and make it feel like a punishment either.
Here’s a rundown of fun, practical baseball drills for 12 year olds to improve their game skills, broken down by hitting, fielding, pitching, and conditioning.
Baseball Hitting Drills for 12 Year Olds
For those young hitters, building strike power and accuracy is extremely important. The players need to work on their focus and practice regularly to hone their skills to perfection. The following six drills have proven extremely effective at training young batters and improving their hitting.
1. Dry Swings
When I’m working with a complete beginner, I like to start them off with some dry swings. The idea is simple: hand them a bat, and make them practice their swings without the pressure of hitting the ball. With this simple exercise, they’ll grasp the fundamentals of swinging a baseball bat.
Make sure the hitter keeps the barrel straight as he swings through the zone. A simple trick I often use to help them better understand the strike zone is drawing a rectangle on a mirror and having them practice their swings in front of it. That way, they get a better visual cue of the strike zone.
2. Sled Pulls
Sled pulls are a variation of the dry swing and help train the muscles and improve strike power. Not only is it a good drill for a 12 year old, but it’s also equally effective for youths who are trying to go further in the sport. It’s a time-tested drill and a personal favorite of mine, if I say so myself.
For this training, you want to attach a sled or some form of weight to the knob end of the baseball bat. Because of the extra weight, the hitter faces resistance, adding an extra layer of challenge when trying to swing. As they get better at swinging with that extra weight, their normal strike power improves drastically.
3. Bryce Harper Drill
Named after the legendary Bryce Harper, this drill aims to improve a player’s posture and stride while hitting. Harper has a distinctive, exaggerated hitting stance where he almost shows the whole bottom of his lead foot to the pitcher as he’s about to hit.
Funnily enough, this stance lets you gather extra power from the hips and unload it through the ball as you swing and connect. The idea of the drill is this: make your players lift their lead foot when striking and connecting with the ball. This helps them activate their hips when swinging, which increases strike power.
4. Hitting Net Drills
This drill is pretty self-explanatory. Have your hitters line up in front of a batting net and practice striking the ball in different parts of the net.
You’ll want to invest in a couple of good batting tees for this drill. You can also use a pitching machine, but I find a stationary ball works better for this particular drill.
The goal of this drill is to train hitting accuracy. By aiming at different parts of the net, players develop an understanding of how they should connect their bat to the ball to hit their mark. This is one of those drills you should put your players through every single day.
5. Target Hitting
Target hitting is the next phase of hitting net drills. When you notice your hitters are comfortable hitting specific areas of the net, consider switching to more advanced target hitting drills. The first thing you want to do for this drill is get rid of the net.
Take your youngsters out and place a couple of targets around the field. The goal is for the hitter to hit the targets with the baseball. Start with larger targets, such as cones or boards, and gradually work your way down to smaller targets like hoops or buckets. You can pitch the ball yourself, or have him use a batting tee.
6. Chain Hitting
Consistency is the key to unlocking the full potential of a young hitter, and it’s your job as a coach to make sure his hits and strike strength stay consistent. The hitting chain drill is a fun and effective way to train muscle memory, reflexes, and repeatable swings.
You need two things for this drill: a hitting screen and a few markers. Set the markers on the ground in a line at different intervals. You’ll position yourself behind the screen while the batter faces the screen with his bat. The batter should stand so there are three markers in front of him and three markers behind him.
Your job is to pitch the ball from behind the screen while the hitter strikes it. If he misses, he moves back a marker. Each successive hit means he steps forward one marker. Though it sounds simple, in practice this is one of the more demanding training routines for a young hitter.
Baseball Fielding Drills for 12 Year Olds
With the hitting drills covered, there are a couple of specific baseball fielding drills that I like to run to focus on my infielders and outfielders. My main priorities for these roles are developing their reflexes, communication, teamwork, and positioning. The drills I put my youth players through focus on these skill sets.
1. Footwork Drill
I like to start with footwork first because a new player rarely understands how important proper stance is when fielding.
Scooping a traveling baseball and throwing it with momentum toward the base requires proper footwork. The entire fielding movement should start from the feet and work its way up to the hand and baseball glove.
Start with a basic demonstration of the proper stance: how to bend at the knees instead of the back, and how to place the glove perpendicular to the ground for better scoops. After that, instruct your players to replicate your movement. For better results, you can place a ground ball in front of them to scoop up while they practice their footwork.
2. Left or Right
You want your fielder to stand in front of you at a distance of about 5 to 10 feet. Instruct him to stand in the correct catching posture. Now start throwing balls to either the left or right of the player, and his goal is to catch it before it touches the ground. Make sure you switch up the direction every now and then.
Left or right is a simple drill that trains the reflexes of the player. After showing this drill, you can pair up the fielders to practice among themselves. While they’re working the drill, you can monitor them closely and correct anything they’re doing wrong.
3. Intercept Drill
The goal of the intercept drill is to teach fielders how to defend line drives. You need three players in total for this drill. Two of them serve as throwers while the third is the interceptor. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say the two throwers are Player A and Player C, and the interceptor is Player B.
For the drill to work, Player A throws a ball to the interceptor, who’s standing around 50 feet away. The interceptor then catches the ball with a crossover step and passes it to Player C. Repeat the drill and remember to switch up the roles so everybody gets a turn as the interceptor.
4. The Call and Catch
The last fielding drill I run with my players is all about teamwork and communication. It’s a fun little exercise that forces the players to communicate so they don’t get in each other’s way. The main focus of this drill is on the third baseman, the left fielder, and the shortstop.
You, the coach, hit a fly ball right in the middle of the three players. As the ball flies, the players have to communicate by yelling “I got it” while the others get in position to back them up. Whoever has the best and quickest read on the ball needs to call out to the other two players so they don’t collide.
Baseball Pitching Drills for 12 Year Olds
Teaching 12 year olds to pitch the right way is extremely important. You need to focus on the fundamentals, including correct stance and throwing posture, along with developing pitching strength and technique.
How do you teach a 12 year old to throw a baseball, you ask? Consistency is the key. I like to keep things simple and have them drill out the basics as much as possible.
One more thing worth knowing before you start stacking up bullpen sessions: USA Baseball’s Pitch Smart program caps daily pitch counts for 11-12 year olds at 85 pitches, with mandatory rest days scaling up based on how many pitches they threw. Keep that ceiling in mind when you’re planning how much live throwing to mix in with these drills.
1. Arm Action Pitching Drills
There are many different variations of arm action pitching drills, and frankly, I love all of them. This drill teaches basic pitching mechanics and rectifies any posture-related issues to help a young pitcher get the most power from his body as he throws. The one I use is quite simple.
I have my pitchers stand in front of the target, usually a net, and pitch the ball. While pitching, they need to twist their arm back to generate power, and as they throw, the chest and upper body bend forward slightly to accommodate the momentum. This simple drill helps them achieve better posture and get a better feel for how to pitch.
Since this drill only focuses on the upper body, don’t worry too much about the legs. We’ll get to that with the next drill.
2. Velocity Drills
You might be wondering why velocity drills at such an early age, and I wouldn’t blame you. Truth is, many coaches don’t want to run 13 year old velocity drills with 12U pitchers since it puts extra load on the arm. But I believe starting early is never a bad thing, as long as you take it slow and respect the pitch count.
I mainly focus on single squat leg drives when doing velocity drills. This develops ground force reaction, which helps a pitcher drive the ball harder toward the target.
First, get your pitcher into the ready position with a solid pair of pitching gloves on. As he’s getting ready to pitch, he does a single leg squat, bending down enough to get a good flex. Then he drives out of that position, throwing the ball with the momentum he generated. Give him a net to practice this drill against.
3. The Net Pitching Drill
The drills mentioned above are my go-to choices when it comes to pitching. But I like to wrap things up with a good old net pitching drill. In fact, you don’t even need a net for this one. Pair your pitchers up and have them pitch toward each other. That way, you can train two players at once.
However, make sure your pitchers are focusing on posture and stance more than raw pitching strength when practicing with a partner. The last thing you want is for them to get hurt. Save the velocity work, and any work toward developing pitching strength, for drills done against a net.
Conditioning Drills for 12 Year Olds
There are some drills I make my players run through to condition their physical strength and stamina. Whether you do it before or after other drills is entirely up to you. Personally, I do it first, give them a few minutes of rest, then get them into the rest of practice.
1. Progressive Sprints
Progressive sprints are a core conditioning drill borrowed from basketball, but they’re just as useful for other sports like baseball and soccer.
You want to place a few baseball catcher’s mitts on the ground in a straight line to use as markers. Have your players run to the first mitt from the start position, come back, run to the second mitt, and so on. This is a difficult drill, so make sure to let them refill their energy between repetitions.
2. Footwork Ladder Drills
The footwork ladder drill trains agility, stamina, and control, and all you need for it is a small agility ladder. Place it on the ground and have your players run through it, stepping in between each rung.
Tips When Coaching Youth Players
Before we go further, let me give you one solid bit of advice. Never think that only your players have to work on themselves. You, as a coach, need to develop right alongside them and be a total guiding light for them. Youths around the age of 9 to 12 respond well to someone they view as a role model.
So, to be a successful and effective coach, you have to become that role model and lead by example. Here are a couple of tips that can help you become a better coach for your youngsters.
1. Keep the Training Sessions Fun
Turns out, when you’re having fun while learning, you develop quicker. Sure, drills aren’t always fun, and if you prioritize fun over training, you’re not being a very good coach. But that doesn’t mean you should suck the soul out of your training. Adding a touch of personality to the drills can often get good results.
Besides, you’re teaching kids under 12 years old, not adults who are already playing as professionals. If kids get worked too hard, they’ll lose interest in the game.
2. Mix up the Drills
Baseball drills can often get monotonous and repetitive. While that’s completely fine if you’re trying to get your player to develop a specific skill, sometimes switching things up is the better way to go. It helps the brain absorb what’s been practiced, so when you get back to it, players progress faster.
Knowing when to mix up the drills and when to keep repeating them is your job as the coach. You need to watch whether the speed of learning has declined and decide whether to try something else. So whenever you’re training your players on a specific skill, keep a close eye on how they’re progressing.
3. Positive Mental Attitude
Do you want to know the difference between a good coach and a bad one? Positive mental attitude. Remember, nobody wins every single game, and it’s pretty normal to go on a losing streak once or twice. If that happens, you need to be there for your players instead of pushing them harder.
The mental condition of your players is just as important as their physical prowess with a baseball bat or their stamina in the outfield. If you see one of your players underperforming, try to motivate them and get them into a positive mood. That can make all the difference in the world.
4. Play Games
Playing baseball with your squad in a friendly setting does two things. One, it lets them apply what they learned in a real-game context. Two, it’s fun and helps the team bond better. Don’t get me wrong, you should never put off training drills for a fun, friendly game.
But sometimes giving your squad a break and letting them play a casual game of baseball with their friends helps refresh their energy. When they come back the next day, they’ll be in a fresh mindset, which helps accelerate their growth. So consider sprinkling in some low-pressure, friendly games with your squad.
Parting Shots
There are thousands of baseball drills out there. But for kids in the 9 to 12 age group, these are the best ones if you ask me. That said, I mix in different extra training exercises depending on the needs of my players.
Most importantly, teach them to respect the game and their equipment, and keep their gear neat and clean.
Hopefully, this list of the best baseball drills for 12 year olds helps you find a couple of good options to train your players better and reach their fullest potential. Good luck.
With 4 years of Division II experience, a .272 career batting average, .410 on-base percentage, and 7 home runs, I’m now in my fifth season. I’ve played baseball since age 3, alongside future MLB Draft picks, and I aim to pursue a career in baseball professionally, be it playing, coaching, or scouting.