The Sandlot

There's a truth most coaches know but rarely say out loud: a lot of kids don't actually know how to play baseball.

They can throw hard. They can run fast. Some of them can already hit a ball a long way. But knowing how to play — where to be, what to do with the ball, how to think two steps ahead, that's different. And it doesn't come from standing in a line taking ground balls.

Baseball is a thinking game. The physical tools only matter if the player attached to them understands the game. A great arm doesn't mean much if the kid doesn't know where to throw it.

That's what led me to create The Sandlot. Original, I know.

Picking teams…..

How It Works

Twelve kids. Four teams of three. One team hits, the other nine play the field.

One batter up at a time — the other two are on deck, watching, thinking, stuffing gum and seeds in their mouth. I stand off to the side and flip a ball at the hitter's front hip. They take a rip. No strikeouts. Ball in play. Nine kids try to get the batter out.

That's it.

Three outs per inning — one per player on the hitting team. Hitters rotate continuously. Ghost runners when needed. I ump, or another coach does. Multiple innings, time permitting. I save this for the end of a solid practice. Fifteen, twenty minutes. That's all you need.

We do keep score. I want a winner and a loser. I want the boys to compete, deal with failure, and handle success. Both matter.

Print This. Take It to Practice. ⬇

The Sandlot

Let Them Figure It Out

I don't tell the kids where to play.

Playing over the bag at second base? Fine but you just opened a hole somewhere else, and the hitter will find it. The kids figure that out themselves. That's not me lecturing about positioning. That's the game teaching them.

Position disputes? Rock paper scissors. Batting order? They set it. Not me.

Let them figure it out.

Bad decision with the ball? Runner advances. Missed the tag? Runner is safe. Consequences are immediate and real. Learning happens fast when the stakes matter, even in practice.

And it's not just the fielders. Base runners are figuring things out too. When do you tag up? Freeze on a line drive or go? Round third or hold? Understand the risk. Nobody is telling them.

Limit coaching during The Sandlot. We step back and yes, we'll jump in to cover a position if needed but the game belongs to the kids. A kid thrown out at third because he didn't tag up? He won't make that mistake again. Not because I told him. Because he gets it.

Why It Works

Most drills isolate a skill. Valuable but they don't teach a kid how to play. The Sandlot puts everything together: fielding, baserunning, decision-making, communication, competition. Fast-paced. Fun. No standing around, no waiting in line, no kid zoning out in right field.

Play some music. Keep it fun but always competitive.

Kids want to win. Use that. Let them battle back from a deficit, hold a lead, lose and shake it off. Those are baseball moments.

Bragging rights are real.

Give It a Try

Take your team, whoever shows up that day, grab a ball and fifteen minutes. You make the rules.

Watch the kid who's never played shortstop start reading a ground ball off the bat. Watch the chatter pick up on its own. Watch them argue about where to play and then figure it out.

You know, like it was on the Sandlot — before all the fancy gear and swag that, let’s be honest, doesn't help any kid play better.

Recently, one of our players made a play to end the game — kept the other team from scoring the winning run, saved it for his boys. A play he doesn't make at the start of the season.

But weeks of Sandlot, weeks of reading the game in real time, failing and figuring it out, it showed up when it mattered. The whole team erupted. The other dugout went quiet.

The progress is real. I see it every week.

That's The Sandlot.