The drill ‘Follow the ball’ is commonly used to warm up the players and explaining how the in-field drill works. You would require simple in-field base area and some balls. One player will be placed at one in-field position while the pitcher will remain empty. If you have more players, they all will remain at the SS ready line to receive the ball.
The coach will begin the game by hitting the ball on the ground to the players at SS. From there, the ball will move to 1B who will throw the ball to 2B. 2B will throw to 3B and he will move toward the home. After the throw is completed; the players will go to the base where they just threw the ball. From here the next round will start and the catcher will move toward the back of the line to SS.
This game is particularly played to learn on how to have good throws, what are the best catching techniques in the baseball and how to tag the runners effectively? 1B from the game should learn to take the proper step and the catch while 2B, 3B should focus on the tagging the runners properly. They should receive their ball in the accurate manner. This method is used as a warm up drill because it helps the players to master several techniques which includes throwing, catching, running, conditioning and tagging. This game gets the blood flowing and to practice the minor difficulties. It can also be made a competition between the players or between teams. We would simply need to count the balls in the beginning and then score the points by counting errors of players during throw and catch the ball.
