Baseball Infield Practice Plan for 13 to 15 Year Olds

Ninety-foot bases hide nothing. Hop control at velocity, backhands as routine, turns at game speed, and a positioning brain that starts every play early.

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Creep-step rhythm, right-left-field at pace, forehands, backhands, four short-hop picks each side, and six on-the-move throws at building effort. Add two do-or-die slow rollers. The battery is now ten minutes of the whole career so far; anything rusty in it gets tomorrow's attention, not today's session.

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Grounders at honest game pace, mixed hops, with the attack-choice called mid-approach ("BIG!"/"SHORT!") and the in-between hop banned as ever. Twelve reps. Then four intentionally awkward ones (topspin skidders served firm and low) taken with the deep-set glove and a giving chest. Velocity compresses decision time; the call keeps the decision conscious until it becomes reflex.

The graduate lesson: when the in-between hop is truly unavoidable (you serve balls timed to force it), the answers get drilled instead of suffered: smother it (chest over, glove trapping down), or beat it with the charge that turns it into a short hop. Eight reps alternating answers on your call, then four with the kid choosing. Even the worst hop has a best response; owning both removes the position's last fear.

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Crossover-first balls at and just past the cone-marked range edge, both sides: full-stretch forehands with the slide-and-field when needed (grass-safe), deep backhands taken off the outside foot with the plant-and-throw behind them. Eight reps per side, cones nudged wider only when clean. Log the honest range width; racing that log is the range program, and it moves weekly at this age.

The throw menu, matched to plays: over-the-top with a shuffle (routine), three-quarter on the run (do-or-die and charges), sidearm from the backhand plant, and the underhand-to-flip family up close. Three of each, each OUT of its matching fielding pattern, never from a standstill. Arm slots are tools the play chooses; drilling them inside their plays keeps the choosing automatic.

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Feeds and turns at genuine game speed with a clock feel (you count the runner aloud: "one-one-thousand, two..."): firm chest-high feeds from every fielding angle, turns with the footwork through the bag and the re-throw released before your count hits the base. Ten plays alternating roles. Speed comes from exchange cleanliness, not hurry; a bobbled turn is two outs lost to greed for one.

The brain, drilled: you announce hitter and situation ("lefty pull hitter, runner on first, one out"; "speed guy, nobody on, two strikes") and the kid MOVES to their positioning answer and says why ("two steps toward the hole, double-play depth"). Ten scenarios across imagined positions. Then three live balls served to punish or reward the positioning honestly. Coaches at this level watch where infielders STAND before they watch how they field.

Relay-and-cutoff work: sprint to a cutoff spot lined between two targets (arms up, LOUD: "HIT ME!"), receive on the glove side already half-turned, and relay in one exchange to the called base, or let it travel on the "LET IT GO!" call you make. Six relays. Then a closing ninety seconds of full-voice situation play: every ball fielded with the base called, every teammate-cone commanded. The dirt talks at this level, and the infielder who runs the conversation runs the team.

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What to watch today: footwork decay at tempo. Every skill here survives slow reps; the position is decided by which ones survive the clock. When the count is running and the feeds stay chest-high, the turns stay through the bag, and the positioning answers still come with reasons, you are watching a big-field infielder emerge. The log (range cones, turn counts, positioning answers) is the proof; keep it honestly and let it argue with bad days.