Learn
12U Baseball Practice Plan (90 Minutes)
A 12U baseball practice plan should run 90 minutes and put the defense under game pressure, because eleven and twelve year olds can finally hold a situation in their heads, and the teams that win at this age are the ones that make the routine play with runners moving. The plan below has seven blocks: arrival tee work, a dynamic warm-up, a throwing progression, a four-station hitting circuit, pitcher fielding practice, 21 Outs, and arm care. Open it in the free baseball practice planner to change the length, swap a block, or print it as a one-page PDF coach sheet.
The 90-Minute 12U Practice Plan
The plan spends 28 minutes getting ready (tee work, warm-up, throwing), 54 minutes on three core blocks, and 8 minutes on arm care, and the core blocks move from individual skill to position skill to full-team defense.
Baseball practice plan · 9-12 (Little League, 10U-12U)
12U Baseball Practice Plan (90 Minutes)
90 min · 7 segments
0:00
10 minTrickle-In Tee & Net
Early arrivers rotate through tee-and-net swing stations at their own pace before practice starts.
Arrival0:10
8 minDynamic Warm-Up Lines
Whole-team dynamic movement lines: jogs, skips, lunges, shuffles, and arm circles across the outfield.
Warm-Up0:18
10 minThrowing Progression Ladder
Structured partner throwing that builds from wrist flips to long toss with a target-hitting focus.
Warm-Up0:28
22 min4-Station Hitting Circuit
Tee, front toss, live BP, and dry-work stations running at once — every hitter swinging, nobody in line.
Core0:50
12 minPFP: Pitcher Fielding Practice
Classic PFP: comebackers, covering first, bunt plays, and 3-1 flips at game speed with quick lines.
Core1:02
20 min21 Outs Team Defense
The classic: defense must record 21 clean outs off coach fungos with live situations — one error resets the count.
Core1:22
8 minCooldown Stretch & Arm Care
Easy jog, partner stretching, and light arm-care holds to bring heart rates down and protect throwing arms.
Cooldown
Equipment: tees, hitting nets or fence screens, buckets of balls, bats, helmets, cones, gloves, one ball per pair, L-screen, portable cage or toss screen, nets, whistle or air horn, fungo bat, bucket of balls, bases, catcher's gear, helmets for runners, light resistance bands (optional, 13+)
Change the length, swap modules for your age group, print a one-page coach sheet, and share it by link. No login.
Customize this plan free →Save to my accountTrickle-In Tee and Net (10 minutes). Open tees for early arrivals. At 12U, give the tee a purpose: inside pitch, outside pitch, high and low, five swings at each location.
Dynamic Warm-Up Lines (8 minutes) and Throwing Progression Ladder (10 minutes). Eighteen minutes feels long until you count the throwing errors in your last game. Finish the ladder with position throws: infielders quick-release from 60 feet, outfielders crow hop from 90 to 120 feet depending on the arm, catchers throw to a base.
4-Station Hitting Circuit (22 minutes). Tee, front toss, live batting practice, and dry work, about five minutes each with quick rotations. Shaggers in the outfield never turn their backs on the hitter. With a full 12-player roster, put three at each station and every hitter takes 40 or more swings counting dry work.
PFP: Pitcher Fielding Practice (12 minutes). Comebackers, covering first on a ball to the right side (the 3-1 play), and bunt plays, in quick lines at game speed. Every player who might pitch takes the reps, which at 12U is most of the roster. Coaching point: finish the pitch in a fielding-ready position, and on the 3-1 play run to the line about ten feet short of the bag, turn up the line, and touch the inside of the base.
21 Outs Team Defense (20 minutes). Nine defenders, the rest as baserunners, and a coach with a fungo calling situations. The defense has to record 21 clean outs, and an error resets the count. Keep a record of how long it takes. The first time, a team may not finish; by midseason the same team does it in 15 minutes, and the difference shows up in games.
Cooldown Stretch and Arm Care (8 minutes). Easy jog, partner stretching, and the question every coach at this age should ask out loud: how does your arm feel today?
Why 12U Is the Team Defense Year
At 10U, a lot of runs score on walks and passed balls. At 12U, pitchers throw more strikes, more balls are put in play, and games turn on whether the defense gets the out it should get. That is why this plan gives 32 of its 90 minutes to defense that involves decisions: where to go with the ball, who covers which base, who is the cutoff.
Teach three things this year and teach them until they are automatic. First, the force and tag picture: every fielder says where the play is before the pitch. Second, the cutoff system on balls to the outfield, with the shortstop or second baseman going out as the relay, the first or third baseman as the cutoff on throws home, and the pitcher backing up the target base. Third, bunt coverage, with a call for who fields and who covers first. 21 Outs rotates through all three when the coach calls the situation before each fungo.
Preparing for the Bigger Field
Twelve is the last year on the small diamond for most players. Little League Majors plays with a 46-foot pitching distance and 60-foot bases, the Intermediate division uses 50 and 70, and at 13 or 14 most players move to 60 feet 6 inches and 90-foot bases. Some travel organizations already play 12U on a 50/70 field with leads and steals.
Practice can soften that jump. In the second half of the season, run the throwing ladder out to longer distances for players whose arms are ready. Let pitchers throw some bullpen pitches from the stretch, even if your league does not allow leads, because every pitch at the next level comes with a runner's lead to think about. Add first-and-third situations and pickoff footwork to 21 Outs for teams that play under open-base rules. The 14U baseball practice plan picks up on the full-size field.
Position Specialization Without Locking Players In
By 12U, players have positions they prefer, and a plan should give them position reps: that is what the end of the throwing ladder and the position groups in 21 Outs are for. It should not freeze them there. Players grow at different times, and the smallest second baseman on a 12U roster may be a six-foot first baseman at 15. A workable rule is that every player takes practice reps at two positions, one infield and one outfield, and that anyone who wants to pitch or catch gets bullpen time.
Tournament-Week Version
In a week with a weekend tournament, keep the 90-minute slot and change the contents. Cut the hitting circuit to 15 minutes of front toss and live batting practice so hitters see game-speed pitches. Replace 21 Outs with a 20-minute walk-through of the situations most likely to cost a game: first-and-third defense, bunt coverage, and cutoffs from each outfield position. Schedule bullpens early in the week only, so that weekend starters have their rest. Under Little League rules a pitcher aged 11 or 12 may throw 85 pitches in a day with required days of rest after higher counts, and most tournaments publish their own limits; the pitch count rules comparison shows how the organizations differ. Plan the weekend's pitching on paper before Thursday's practice, not in the dugout on Saturday.
Build Your Own 12U Practice Plan
Open this plan in the free baseball practice planner with the "Customize this plan" button under the plan above. Choose 60, 90, or 120 minutes and the 9-12 age group, drag modules into the timeline, and print a one-page PDF coach sheet or share the plan by link. No login is required. The baseball practice plan template is the paper and Excel version.
Save the plan to a free Rizzler account and it lands in Practice Manager, attached to a practice on your schedule with RSVP counts, station assignments, and an equipment list. The baseball practice plans hub has sessions for every age from 8U through high school, and the 10U plan covers younger kid-pitch teams.
Running a league or a club with many teams? We will set every coach up with shared practice plans, tryouts, and evaluations, and show you how much volunteer time it saves.
Talk to our team
Want to spend more time coaching and less time with paperwork? Let's talk.
Tell us about your team and we'll show you how to plan games, set lineups, run the schedule, and develop players in one place, so you spend the season coaching instead of chasing admin.
Less admin, more coaching
Plan games, set lineups, and track the season in one place
Keep every family in the loop automatically
Tell us about your program
4 fields · takes 30 seconds
Lands in the same inbox as the Help button · human response only
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should a 12U baseball practice be?
Ninety minutes. It is enough time for a full hitting circuit, a position-skill block, and a team defense block, which is the combination eleven and twelve year olds need.
What should a 12U baseball practice include?
A throwing progression, a station hitting circuit, pitcher fielding practice, a team defense block with live situations such as 21 Outs, and arm care at the end.
How many practices a week should a 12U team have?
Two practices a week plus games is common for recreational teams. Travel teams often practice two or three times a week in the preseason and once or twice during tournament season.
Is there a printable 12U practice plan PDF?
Yes. Open the plan on this page in the free baseball practice planner and print it; the browser's print dialog saves it as a one-page PDF with the time column, coaching points, and equipment list. The practice plan template page also has a blank printable PDF.
What is the 21 Outs drill?
A team defense drill in which the defense must record 21 clean outs in a row off coach fungos with live baserunners and called situations. An error resets the count to zero. It puts game pressure on routine plays.
Read Next
Quality At-Bats (QAB) Explained for Parents & Players
LearnRizzler Reps for Flag Football: Assigned Drills, Streaks, and At-Home Training
Flag FootballEqual Playing Time in Volleyball: How Coaches Actually Do It
VolleyballIn-Game Intel & Matchups: Competitive Advantage from the Dugout
FeaturesEarned Run Average (ERA): Definition, Formula & Youth Context
StatsBest Baseball Scorekeeping Apps for Coaches in 2026
Learn
