Well over the years I’ve seen other coaches do it, but at yesterday’s practice we were using the pitching machine for fly balls. I also used a new toy I got over the weekend https://www.amazon.com/Accubat-Racket-Baseball-Softball-Training/ (it’s an Accubat product) and it worked well. I don’t usually advertise products, but I guess in a BLOG maybe it’s OK as it’s just part of the story.
The JUGS machine was cool as I could make it hit the same ball frequently and I really wanted to work the tough play where the ball is too far behind first for the first baseman and too close for the right fielder and the second baseman has to make the play. I hit about 10 of them and the second baseman finally came over and made the play. I think it’s just not natural for kids to run into an area where they know there are two other players nearby.
Lots of fly balls and ground balls but I was sad not to have some live runners. We just only had five players — I think live runners really change things for the defense. It’s one thing to make a play with no runners — it’s another when they are running nearby.
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