How To Teach 6-8 Year Olds To Catch A Baseball [Baseball Catching Drills]

Hey, what's up fellas? How you doing? Manettinelli here. What's going on guys? So I get asked a lot about how to improve the catching ability of a young kid, six, seven, eight years old. So luckily I have a six year old son. I want to go through kind of the routine that I do with him that helps him catch. We're going to use these Swax balls. So basically it's the same weight as a baseball, but it's a lot softer. And I think it's really important for young kids. Sometimes they're a little bit afraid of the ball. So this, if it does hit him, it won't hurt, but it's the same weight, same size. So it gives him a feel of having an actual real baseball without the fear of getting hit. So let's go through the drills real quick. I'll explain them. And then we'll go through them. Okay. So we start off juggling two balls. Number one, it's fun. He always wants to do it. Number two, we're just warming up. So we're working on some hand-eye coordination. We start flipping the ball low and then we progress to flipping it higher. Then I flip to him with his glove on and no movement. So I flip it right to him. I start below the waist. We work on catching with our fingers down, and then we go above the waist working on catching with our fingers up. Then we do the same thing with no glove on. So he needs a little bit more focus and concentration. We then flip to each other at the same time. He loves doing this. It is fun for him to do this. It takes a little bit more focus. And we like to see who drops the ball first. And I may every now and then miss on purpose. He gets a laugh out of that. Then we flip two balls at the same time. Now this is very challenging, but it works on some more hand-eye coordination and just keeps things fun. I then progressed to flips right at him. So he doesn't need to move anywhere. And we're going to work on catching the ball over our head with our fingers up. Now we start to move. So I have him run right at me and I start with balls below the waist so that he can catch with his fingers down. And then we go above the waist catching with our fingers up. Now a few points that I make, I try to teach him to keep running. A lot of kids when they do this, they want to stop to catch the ball. So I'll tell him to run through the catch. You have to get used to catching the ball while on the run. And we then do the same type of drill, but we're working on catching it backhand and then forehand. So again, it's run through the catch. Don't stop. Get comfortable catching on the run. Then we go to very high pop-ups. This just depends on how good the player is at catching. So don't rush to this point. It's very important. I want to make sure that he's comfortable and confident before I start throwing balls way up in the air. If you do this too soon and all the player does is drop the ball or worst case scenario, the ball hits them in the face or the head. They're going to get really frustrated or they're going to get hurt and they're not going to want to continue to play or practice. So from there we go to running catches from both sides. So I'll have him open up to his right and catch the ball on the run. And then we'll have him open up to the left and catch on the run. Now my coaching point for this is that I want him to try to run and keep his head as quiet as possible. So his eyes aren't bouncing up and down. And again, we're going to try to catch these on the run. And then from there, we just finish off with playing normal catch and you can move back as far as the player is comfortable. Again, if they're very new to catching start close, as they get better, you just continue to increase the distance. And same thing with the speed of my throws. So I would start off very slow, but then as the player gets better, I start to throw it faster. So here are a few more things to keep in mind when doing all of these drills. I always like to start with the easiest drills and then I'll progress to the hardest. I also don't coach every rep and I always keep it positive. If he misses the ball, I keep going. I don't say a word. When we finished the round, I may give a quick tip or two, but I never say, you know, come on, or you got to catch that ball if he drops it. I hear that a lot when parents are playing catch with their kids. In my experience, kids get frustrated very easy when this happens. And for my son, I feel that he always wants to play catch because he knows that he isn't going to get yelled at if he misses the ball. This is just us having fun. He has no idea that he is practicing and getting better. Like I said earlier, when we're doing these, I want him to catch the ball every way possible. Fingers up when the ball is above the waist, fingers down when the ball is below the waist, and then also backhand and forehand to really get good at catching and then be able to take that catching into the game. You need to be comfortable catching it all ways. And you also need to be comfortable catching on the run. And then lastly, if you want to get 20% off of the Swax baseballs that we're using in this video, go to www.gamemasterathletic.com. I'll put the link in the description of this video and use the promo code Antonelli21. So I hope this helps. Good luck. And most importantly, have fun. If you've enjoyed this video and want to learn more about building the elite swing, check out our new course. We have over two hours of content, almost 30 hitting drills. We break down the exact mechanics that you're going to want to implement into your swing. I've put the link in the description if you want to go check it out.