Controlled scrimmage innings

Setup

1. Split the squad into two teams. One team fields a full defence; the other bats, with the next batters in helmets waiting behind a fence or screen, well away from the swing.
2. Batters, runners and any junior base coaches wear helmets. The catcher wears full gear for every pitch.
3. Plan the pitchers before you start: each one has a pitch limit for the day within your age-based pitch count guidelines (for example MLB/USA Baseball Pitch Smart or your national body's equivalent). Juniors who pitch today don't catch today, and don't pitch on back-to-back days.
4. One coach umpires from behind the pitcher, off to the side out of the line of the ball. Another keeps the pitch count and sets the situations.

How it runs

1. Before each half-inning, the coach sets a situation: e.g. runner on second, nobody out; or runners on first and third, one out. Runners start on those bases.
2. Every batter starts with a 1-1 count to speed things up. Play it as a real game, with all normal rules.
3. A half-inning ends after three outs, five batters or when the pitcher reaches the limit for the inning (about 20 pitches), whichever comes first.
4. The coach can call 'Freeze!' to stop play and ask a quick question ('Where's the cut-off?', 'Why did you hold?'), then play on. Keep stops short.
5. Swap batting and fielding after each half-inning. Rotate fielding positions so players see the game from several spots.

Coaching points

• Situations to plan for: move a runner from second with nobody out, score a runner from third with fewer than two outs, defend a first-and-third, defend a bunt.
• Defence: before every pitch, each fielder knows the outs, where the force is and where the ball goes if it's hit to them.
• Offence: base coaches and runners check the outs and the situation before each pitch.
• Enforce the rules so players learn them: balks, the infield fly, obstruction, bona fide slides into second and the home-plate collision rule. Check your competition's rules where they differ.
• Record every pitch, and change a pitcher at the limit even in the middle of a good inning. Stop any pitcher who mentions arm pain.
• Praise good decisions even when they don't work out, e.g. a runner who correctly holds on a shallow fly.

Common mistakes

• Stopping play so often that the scrimmage loses its flow.
• Losing track of pitch counts, especially for pitchers who also threw in an earlier drill.
• Same players always in the key positions, so others never learn them.
• Batters on deck swinging near the field or other players.
• Defence not talking before the pitch, so a situation catches them out.