Baseball Drills: The Shuffle Drop Drill

Build a sturdy athletic stance and improve your endurance through this intense training activity.

The shuffle drop drill is a great tool to help build your endurance, body control and change of direction and work on your athletic stance. In this drill, set six balls down on the ground and stand behind them. Then, set a bucket or cone approximately 5-8 feet on both sides of your body, so that you are in the center. A bucket is best for this drill so that you have something to drop the balls into, but you can also use a cone or other type of marker.

Get into an athletic stance. On your coach’s command, pick up one of the balls and shuffle toward one of the buckets.  Stay low to the ground, maintaining your athletic stance without crossing your feet. When you reach the bucket, plant your outside foot, drop the ball and begin shuffling toward the other bucket. As you pass the balls in the center, pick up another ball without stopping your movement toward the other bucket. This drill is meant to help develop hand-eye coordination and body control as you keep your momentum while cleanly picking up the ball. When you reach the other bucket, plant your outside foot, drop the ball in the bucket and start in the other direction. You will go back and forth until all of the balls have been placed in the buckets.

To make the drill more challenging, add more baseballs or spread out the buckets. Your coach can also toss you a ball from 10-20 feet in front of you as you cross the center point of the drill. You would still maintain your shuffle, but work on catching the ball as opposed to picking it up off the ground.

These drills can be completed with a single player or group. Your coach can also turn it into a competition by using a stopwatch to track times. Monitor these times throughout your season to see how you improve and use it as motivation.