Baseball Practice Plans by Age: 10U to High School + Template

This page is a set of baseball practice plans a coach can run tomorrow. It starts with a 90-minute structure that works from 10U to varsity, then fills that structure in for each age group: 10U, 12U, 14U and high school, plus a plan for the nights you are stuck in a gym. There is a blank template at the bottom, and there is no email gate on any of it. Print the page or keep it open on your phone at the fence.

It is written for baseball. The mound distances, the base paths, the lead-off and pickoff rules, the pitch counts and the bullpen and catching stations are baseball's. If you also coach fastpitch, the softball practice plans are built the same way for a different game.

Jump to a plan:

• The 90-minute structure
• 10U · 12U · 14U · High school
• Indoor practice
• Printable template · Drill index

What a good baseball practice plan looks like

Most youth baseball practices fail for the same three reasons: too many players in one line, too many new drills, and no plan for the pitchers and catchers, who end up playing catch in foul territory while the coach hits infield. Fix those three and the rest is detail.

• Stations of three or four, no lines. Thirteen players at one tee means one swing every two minutes each. Four stations of three means a swing every twenty seconds. Everything below is built on stations rotating on a timer.
• The same shape every week. Players should know what comes after throwing without asking. When the structure is familiar, the coaching goes into the reps instead of the transitions.
• One thing to fix per practice. Pick it before you leave the house and build two stations around it. Everything else is maintenance.
• Pitchers and catchers get their own block. They peel off during throwing and get a station of their own in the defensive block. A 12U pitcher who never throws a bullpen at practice is being trained by his parents, not by you, and a catcher who never blocks at practice will not block in a game.
• The pitch count is part of the plan. Every bullpen has a number written next to it before it starts, and the number goes in a notebook after. MLB and USA Baseball's Pitch Smart guidelines set the game limits and rest days by age; practice throwing sits under them and counts toward the week.
• Everyone throws, everyone hits, everyone fields, every practice. The plan is not finished if one of those is missing for any player.
• End on time. The close is five minutes and it is on the plan. Coaches who run long teach players that the clock does not matter, and then wonder why warm-up starts late.

The 90-minute baseball practice structure

Six blocks. The minutes shift by age, and the 10U and indoor plans below run shorter, but the order does not change.

1. Arrival and dynamic warm-up, 10 minutes. Jog, skips, lunges, arm circles, band work if you have bands. Players who arrive early start early; there is no waiting for the whole team.
2. Throwing progression, 10 minutes. Wrist flips with a four-seam grip, one knee, standing at short distance, out to a distance that matches the age, then back in with a crow hop and a target. Pitchers and catchers split off at the halfway point.
3. Defensive stations, 25 minutes. Three stations, eight minutes each, rotate on a whistle. Pitchers and catchers are their own station, and the bullpen has a count.
4. Hitting stations, 25 minutes. Tee, front toss, live or machine, and a bunting station. Every player hits at every station.
5. Baserunning and situational, 15 minutes. One situation with live runners. Run it until it is right, not until the clock says stop.
6. Close, 5 minutes. One thing we fixed, one thing for next practice, and what the players do between now and then.

The same structure as a table. The "coach cue" column is the sentence that starts the block, so the transition takes ten seconds, not two.

If you are the only adult, run two stations plus one self-run station: a tee into a net, a wall for short hops, or a partner drill with a rep count written on a card. Two coaches can run three stations comfortably, which is the two-coaches-and-13-kids problem solved. Three coaches can run four, which is where the hitting block gets good.

Baseball practice plans by age

The structure holds from 10U to varsity. What changes is the field, the rules, the pitching, and how much the players can absorb. Each tier below gives you what changes, a complete sample plan, and the three drills that matter most at that age.

A word on the rules. Youth baseball does not have one rulebook. Little League, USSSA, PONY, Cal Ripken and the high school federation (NFHS) each set their own mound and base distances, lead-off rules and pitch limits, and the same 12-year-old can play under three of them in one summer. The distances and rules below are the common ones for each age; check your league's current rulebook before you spend fifteen minutes teaching a rule it does not use.

10U baseball practice plan

What changes at 10U. This is the coach-pitch to kid-pitch transition. Most 8U divisions are coach pitch or machine pitch; by 9U and 10U the kids are pitching, from a 46-foot mound to 60-foot bases under Little League, PONY Mustang and most USSSA and rec divisions. There are no lead-offs at this distance in most rule sets: Little League holds the runner on the base until the pitch reaches the batter, and USSSA lets him go when the pitcher releases the ball. Either way, stealing is on, and the passed ball is the play that decides 10U games. Whether the uncaught third strike is in play varies by league at this age, so check before you teach it.

What this age can and cannot do. They can learn to throw with a four-seam grip and a correct arm slot, field a ground ball with two hands, hit off a tee with a repeatable swing, and run through first base without slowing down to look for the ball. They cannot hold a plan in their head for more than eight minutes or absorb more than one correction at a time. Keep stations at seven minutes, keep the total to 75, and make the last station of each block a game with a score. A 10U practice that runs 90 minutes is a 75-minute practice with 15 minutes of standing around at the end.

Pitchers and catchers at 10U. Four or five kids are usually learning to pitch, and everyone wants a turn. Give them their own station in the defensive block, at 46 feet, with a catcher in gear, and count pitches: 20 to 25 in the station and done, fastballs only, with a change-up grip introduced on flat ground for the ones who can hold it. Pitch Smart's guidance for this age is a fastball and a change-up before anything else, and the bullpen count here sits far below its daily game limit; a kid who pitched in a game yesterday plays catch and does not throw a bullpen today. Catchers learn to receive first, then to block, because a 10U catcher who blocks ends the free-run problem by himself.

The three drills that matter most at 10U. One-knee throwing with a four-seam grip so the arm slot is right before the feet get involved. Two-hand ground balls rolled by hand, because the fielding position is the whole lesson and a thrown ball hides it. Blocking on a mat for every catcher on the roster, because at 46 feet with stealing on, the team that stops the ball in the dirt wins.

12U baseball practice plan

What changes at 12U. The field depends on who you play for. Little League Majors stays at 46 and 60 with no lead-offs; USSSA 12U, PONY Bronco and Cal Ripken's 70-foot division move to a 50-foot mound and 70-foot bases, where leads, pickoffs and balks all arrive at once. The uncaught third strike is in play at 12U under nearly every rule set, the pitching is hard enough that catchers have to block or lose runs, and the runners are fast enough that a team that cannot handle a bunt or a passed ball gives away four runs an inning. The plan shifts from "learn the skill" to "run the play," and the situational block becomes the most important fifteen minutes on the field.

What this age can and cannot do. They can run a station without a coach standing on it, hold two corrections at a time, and understand why the play works. They cannot yet throw a runner out at second consistently, which is why the catcher station is throwing mechanics and blocking, not pop times. If your league plays 50/70, leads and steal reads off the pitcher's first move go in this year; if it plays 46/60, the reads are off the pitch reaching the batter, and the fifteen minutes you save goes to bunt defense.

Pitchers and catchers at 12U. A bullpen at the age's distance, 25 to 35 pitches, fastball and change-up only, with location called on every pitch. Pitch Smart's daily limits and rest days for 11- and 12-year-olds are the workload rule for the week, and Little League's regular-season pitch-count rule is built on the same table; look up the current numbers and keep a notebook, because the game count and the bullpen count add up. Pitchers on the 50-foot mound add a slide step and a pickoff move; pitchers at 46 feet do not need either yet. A player who pitched today does not catch today.

The three drills that matter most at 12U. Blocking on a mat with soft balls, because a catcher who blocks ends the free-steal problem. Bunt defense with a live runner, run from both sides until the pitcher and corners charge without being told and the middle infield covers the bags. Pitcher fielding practice, because at this age the comebacker, the ball to the right side with the pitcher covering first, and the bunt are three plays the pitcher is in and nobody practices.

14U baseball practice plan

What changes at 14U. The big-field jump. Somewhere between 13U and 14U the game moves to a 60-foot-6-inch mound and 90-foot bases, and the year it happens depends on the league. 13U is the transition year and the most inconsistent: Little League's Intermediate division plays 50/70, USSSA 13U and PONY's 13-14 division play 54/80, and some travel organizations go straight to 60/90. By 14U most travel divisions and Little League's Junior division are on the full field, while PONY holds 54/80 until its 15-16 division. Everything gets longer: the throw from the hole, the throw to second from home, the relay from the gap. Leads, secondary leads, pickoffs and balks are all in play, and a pitcher who cannot hold a runner gives away second base every inning.

What this age can and cannot do. They can run every station themselves, correct each other, and hold a plan across a week. They can handle a timed catcher throw to second, but the time is for his own reference, not a number you post. They cannot handle a coach who changes the plan mid-practice, so put the plan on the fence and stick to it. Position groups matter more here: split the roster by position for the defensive block and let the pitchers and catchers run a real bullpen. Long toss becomes the outfielder's conditioning, and the throwing progression stretches to match the field.

Pitchers and catchers at 14U. A bullpen of 35 to 45 pitches at the age's distance, fastball and change-up with a breaking ball only for the players whose mechanics are ready for it; Pitch Smart's guidance is to master the first two before adding a third. Pitchers work holding runners: the slide step, a pickoff move that does not balk, and a look before every pitch with a runner on. Catchers throw to second in every bullpen block, from a lead, with the pitcher's delivery as the trigger, because on 90-foot bases the throw is 127 feet and the footwork has to be automatic. Log every count. A staff at this age is playing tournaments with three games in two days, and the coach who knows who threw what on Friday is the coach who has a pitcher for Sunday.

The three drills that matter most at 14U. Leads and reads off the pitcher's first move with pickoffs live, because the big field is where the running game starts and most teams learn it by getting picked off. First-and-third from both the offensive and defensive side, because it comes up every game and most teams still give it away. Cuts and relays with the outfield throwing to a moving target, run until the infielder is lined up before the ball is caught, since the throw that reached home at 70 feet needs a relay at 90.

High school baseball practice plan

What changes in high school. The rules are NFHS: a 60-foot-6-inch mound, 90-foot bases, BBCOR bats, seven-inning games, and a pitch-count rule that each state association sets for itself; know your state's numbers and rest days, because the athletic director will. Rosters are bigger, often a varsity and a JV sharing one field, and the season is compressed: tryouts, a short pre-season, then games two or three days a week. Practices stretch to two hours and run five days a week in-season, so the plan has to do two things a youth plan does not: keep the pitching staff's workload in check across a week with games in it, and give a 16-player roster enough reps that the bench does not go stale.

Pre-season versus in-season. Pre-season practice is the 90-minute structure stretched to 120, with the extra 30 minutes going to a fourth defensive station and a longer situational block. In-season, cut the throwing volume, drop the live hitting on the day before a game, and use the situational block to fix what went wrong in the last game. If your players ran the off-season baseball training plan over the winter, the Sharpen block in weeks 10 to 12 hands straight into the pre-season plan below: they arrive at tryouts with arms built up on a schedule, a short bullpen already thrown, and a tee routine already built.

The three drills that matter most in high school. Twenty-one outs, because it is the closest thing to a game you can run at practice and it punishes the mental mistakes you cannot see in a drill. Live at-bats against every pitcher on the staff, so no hitter faces a new arm for the first time in a game. A logged bullpen, because a staff of five pitchers across a three-game week under a state pitch-count rule needs a coach who knows who threw what on which day, in games and at practice both.

Indoor baseball practice plans

Rain, January, or a field the football team owns until March. The indoor plan is shorter, 75 minutes, because gym time is expensive and the stations are cramped, and it leans on the things a gym does well: footwork, throwing mechanics at short distance, receiving, blocking, and swings into a net. Use tennis balls or soft training balls for anything thrown or hit toward a wall, and run the pitchers in a lane with a screen and a portable mound if you have one.

A half-court gym holds four stations: a net or cage for hitting, a lane for pitchers and catchers, a wall for short hops and throwing, and open floor for footwork and baserunning. Two cages means front toss in one, live or machine in the other. The gym lines are your bases: a 90-foot lead and a secondary fit on a basketball court sideline.

Do not try to run a full situational block indoors with a real ball; you will lose a window and a station. The team block is for footwork and decisions, at walking speed first.

Printable baseball practice plan template

Copy this table, fill in the stations, and put it on the fence. The minute column is pre-filled for a 90-minute practice; change it to 75 for 10U or indoors. The 10U, 12U, 14U and high school plans above are this template filled in.

Two rules for filling it in. The one thing you are fixing goes in the focus column at the top, and two stations serve it. The close row is written before practice, not after; if you do not know what you want fixed by minute 85, the plan is a list of drills. And the bullpen count is written in the defense row before the first pitch, because a number decided after the bullpen is not a limit.

Drill index

The drills named in the plans above, grouped by skill, one line each.

Throwing

• Four-seam wrist flips. Elbow up, wrist snap only, ten feet apart, the grip checked on every throw. The first thing every arm on the roster does.
• One-knee progression. Glove-side knee down, throwing-side knee up, so the arm slot and the wrist snap are right before the feet get involved.
• 21. Partners at a distance that matches the age; a chest-high throw is two points, a catchable throw is one, first to 21. Accuracy with a score attached.
• Out and in. Long toss out to the age's distance on an arc, then crow hop back in on a line to a target with game arm slots. The outfield's conditioning.

Infield

• Short hops off a wall or partner. Forehand, backhand, glove-side, 40 to 60 reps. The most useful drill in the game and it needs no field.
• Double-play feeds. Feeds from second and short, underhand and dart, before any turn. Add the pivot at 14U, when the big field makes the turn a real throw.
• Slow rollers. Charge, field with the glove foot forward, throw on the run. The do-or-die play at third.
• Bunt defense. Live runner, live bunter, pitcher and corners charge, middle infielders cover the bags. Run from both sides until nobody needs to be told.
• Rundowns. Runner trapped between bases, two fielders, one throw. The ball goes back and the runner is tagged, not chased. From 12U.

Outfield

• Drop step and first-step reads. Coach's arm goes up, player drop-steps to the side of the ball before it is thrown. Five reads each, every practice.
• Do-or-die. Ground ball to the outfield with a runner scoring; charge, field on the glove side, crow hop, throw through the cutoff.
• Communication fly balls. Two players, one ball hit between them, the call made early and loud. Nobody collides and nobody drops it.
• Cuts and relays. Ball in the gap, relay lined up before the catch, throw to the right base. Run with a runner so the decision is real.

Pitching and catching

• Bullpen at the age's distance. 46, 50, 54 or 60 feet 6 inches. Pitches counted, location called on every one. The count is written down and stays under the Pitch Smart limit for the age with the week's games included.
• PFP. Pitcher fielding practice: comebacker, ball to the right side with the pitcher covering first, bunt down each line. Ten minutes a week from 10U up.
• Holding runners. Slide step, a pickoff move to first that does not balk, a look before every pitch. From 50/70 up, every bullpen ends with it.
• Receiving off front toss. Partner tosses to the glove side, catcher sticks it and works the low strike, 30 to 40 catches. Comes before blocking at every age.
• Blocking on a mat. Soft balls or tennis balls, 15 to 20 reps, chin down, glove between the knees, chest over the ball. Starts at 10U with stealing on.
• Throws to second. From a lead, on the pitcher's delivery, footwork first and arm second. A rep count in the bullpen block, timed only for the catcher's own reference.

Hitting and bunting

• Tee routine. Same five stations every time: middle, inside, outside, high, low. The routine he runs at home into a net.
• Front toss with counts. Coach calls the count before each toss; two-strike swings are shorter and the player says so out loud.
• Sacrifice, drag and push. Sacrifice first at every age, square early and catch the ball with the bat; drag and push for the players with speed, from 12U up.
• Live at-bats. Off your own pitchers, every hitter sees every arm. The change-up and the breaking ball are learned here, not off a machine.

Baserunning and team

• Run through and round. Through the bag on a ground ball, a tight round on a hit, back to the bag on a pick attempt. Every practice at 10U.
• Leads and reads. Primary lead, secondary on the pitch, steal read off the pitcher's first move, back on the pickoff. Five a practice from the year your league allows a lead.
• Tag-ups. Tag on a fly ball from second and third, go on the catch, read the outfielder's arm.
• First and third. Three variations each way. The play most teams still give away at 14U.
• Twenty-one outs. Defense stays on until it records 21 against live hitters and runners. High school and up.

The other five days

A youth team practices once or twice a week. Call it three hours. The players who look different in May are doing something on the other five days, and the honest version is that most of the roster is doing nothing, which you find out in April.

The plans on this page are for practice day. For the days between, the roster needs something short enough to get done on a school night and specific enough to be worth doing: a throwing progression against a wall or with a parent, the tee routine from the drill index, a pitcher's dry mechanics and band circuit on the days he is not throwing, a catcher's receiving off a parent's toss, footwork for the infielders. Thirty to forty-five minutes, by position, three days a week.

That is what Next Athletix does for a baseball coach. It does not write your practice plan; this page is the practice plan. It assigns daily, position-specific training sessions to your roster between practices and shows you who did them. You create the team, show the QR code on your phone at one practice, every athlete scans it, and they are on the plan before they leave the field. Your dashboard shows who did the work this week, who is on a streak, and who has gone quiet, which turns the close of your next practice from a guess into a sentence: "Ten of thirteen did their sessions this week."

Be straight with parents about what it is. A coach account is free. A free athlete account gets one sample session a week; the full plan runs on the Training plan, which is per athlete with a 7-day free trial, and athletes and parents subscribe on their own account with nothing billed to you. Pricing is here. It is not a recruiting service and it does not replace the practice you just planned. If your team also wants a structured winter, the off-season baseball training plan is the 12-week version of the same idea, and its last three weeks are built to hand into the pre-season plan above.

Print it

Everything above is the plan. Print the page or send the link to your assistant coaches; nothing to sign up for. If you want the between-practice work assigned and tracked, that is what the free coach account is for.