Developing the 5-Tool Baseball Player

with Ed Servais,
Creighton University Head Coach from 2004 to 2025;
4x Big East Regular Season Champions (2014, 2017, 2019, 2025);
2x Big East Tournament Champions (2025, 2019);
2x Big East Coach of the Yearÿ(2014, 2019);
2x MVC Regular Season Champions (2005, 2011);
3x MVC Tournament Champions(2007, 2011,ÿ2012);
4xÿMVCÿCoach of the Year (2004, 2005, 2007, 2011);
2008 Field Turf National Coach of the Year;
2013 USA Baseball Assistant Coach;
NCAA Record .984 Team Fielding Percentage (2009);
Creighton Assistant Coach from 1998 to 2003;
Iowa State Assistant Coach from 1996 to 1997;
Saint Mary's (MN) Head Coach from 1989 to 1995;
2x MIAC Regular Season Champions (1990, 1993);
2x MIAC Coach of the Year (1990, 1993);
played college baseball for Wisconsin-La Crosse

The 5-tool baseball player is the most coveted commodity at every level. Many times, players are incomplete in one of the coveted five tool areas: speed, throwing, fielding, hitting power, and hitting consistency.

Using progressive drills embedded with valuable information, Coach Ed Servais provides a great resource for coaches wanting to develop 5-tool baseball players. From the weight room to the cage to the field, his drills are effective and make developing the 5-tool player easy for you.

Speed Development

Speed is the first tool evaluated by scouts and recruiters. With proper training, speed can be improved. Brad Schmidt, Athletic Performance Coach at Creighton, covers stretching, shows two lifts to help build leg and core muscles, and demonstrates several progressive drills to improve your players' running technique. These drills are easy to implement with minimum equipment and space required.

Improving Throwing Accuracy

It's not just arm strength that matters - it's accuracy and quickness as well. Coach Servais leads two of his players through 11 drills to help develop throwing strength, accuracy, and quickness by using paddle gloves and (or) positioning their bodies in different throwing positions like from a knee, sideways, and in ready position. Using these drills and teaching points will help your players reduce errors in the field.

Building Fielding Mechanics

Coach Servais shows you, step-by-step, how to put your players in the right position to consistently field the ball effectively. Through dead ball drills, players go through the mechanics and motion of fielding ground balls. In the Triangle drill, players learn proper feet and glove positioning during fielding. In ball-in-glove drills, players build up to footwork and tossing. In coach-tossed ground balls, players learn to implement the previous drills to make accurate quick throws.

Hitting for Power and Average

Hitting for average and for power are two tools that every player needs. Coach Servais shares the four areas that coaches and scouts use to evaluate hitters. Starting with the tee and building up to live batting practice, he provides a series of eight drills to help your hitters make more consistent and powerful contact. Players participate in tee drills for shortening swings, side toss drills for bat path development, front toss drills for pitch recognition and timing, and live hitting drills to enhance all components covered in progression from tee to live hitting.

With his progressive drills, Coach Servais teaches coaches and players how to build a foundation and intensify the effects of practicing on that foundation. He gives you the drills and teaching points you need to build complete players. Win more games and help your players advance to the next level of the game with this presentation from one of the most respected coaches in college baseball.

60 minutes. 2017.