8U Baseball Practice Plan (75 Minutes, Coach Pitch)
- By Julien Levadoux
At 7 and 8, most players are hitting coach or machine pitch and learning to throw properly. Spend 75 minutes on a throwing progression, grounders and fly balls, three hitting stations and baserunning, and finish with a game they'll want to play again.
What 8U players can do
At 7 and 8, players can learn a real throwing motion, field a ground ball and catch an easy fly ball, especially with a tennis ball first. Most leagues at this age use coach or machine pitch. Keep blocks to 10–15 minutes and run stations so everyone is busy at once.
The plan
| Time | Block | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Warm-up | Dynamic warm-up |
| 0:08 | Throwing | Throwing progression, wrist flicks to standing, at 20–40 feet |
| 0:20 | Fielding | Ground ball alligator with a throw to a partner |
| 0:30 | Fly balls | Fly balls with a drop step, with tennis balls |
| 0:38 | Water break | |
| 0:41 | Hitting | Three stations, 5 minutes each: tee, side soft toss, coach pitch to the field |
| 0:57 | Baserunning | Run through first and rounding the bases |
| 1:05 | Game | Relay race or pickle |
| 1:12 | Wrap-up | Huddle and next game’s details |
Coaching notes
- Throwing first. A good throwing habit started now saves years of fixing later. Watch the glove pointing at the target and the elbow up.
- Tennis balls for fly balls until players stop flinching. Then real balls, tossed high and short first.
- Every player at every position. Rotate who plays where at practice. You don’t know yet who your shortstop is, and neither do they.
- Know your league’s local rules. At this age they vary most: who pitches, how many batters per inning, whether there’s a score.