One of the reasons that infielders will use smaller gloves than outfielders is because it’s much more important for the infielder to get that ball out of his glove really, really quickly. ![]() And of course, at the youth level, there are a bunch of errors that tend to happen.īasically, the key to making the play in the infield, actually in any position in baseball, is to release the ball quickly. Once the ball is caught, you need to throw it to one of the people who are on a base and that base person needs to catch it. Of course, we can’t talk about infield without going into what happens after you catch the ball. That gives you the quickest jump toward where you need to go. This is done by crossing over from the opposite leg, the one farther away from the direction you’re going. That basically means you’re on the balls of your feet, ready to go toward one direction or the other very quickly. If the ball goes off to one side, you need to be able to execute what’s called a crossover step. When you have a line drive, you’ve just got to have quick reactions. Sometimes the balls that are hit don’t pop up or roll on the ground. It’s a different story, too, when you have a line drive. It has to be touching the ground so that if the ball is rolling right in front of them they can stop it right there instead of having it go between their legs. Once they get in front of a ground ball, they have to get their glove on the ground and get it dirty. You really need to get right in front of the ball in order to be able to block it and to prevent it from getting past you.įrom there, the other main mistake that you’ll see is the ball goes right between their legs because they don’t have their glove on the ground. So the kids try to catch the ball off to the side and that usually doesn’t work. Nobody wants to get in front of a hard-hit ball, but that’s where you need to be. Errors and misplays increase if the ball takes three or more hops.įor balls that are hit a little harder, the most common mistake is our natural inclination for self-defense. It’s best to get to the ball on the first or second hop. They need to be charging toward balls that are coming at them at a slow to moderate speed instead of waiting, to save precious time and make that quick play. So we tell the kids to charge at the balls. And you have to be able to turn that play with a quick throw over to first base. So you have to get to the ball really, really quickly. Remember that as soon as that ball is hit, the batter will run toward first base as fast as he possibly can. Often times you see these kids wait for the ball to get to them instead of charging the ball down. ![]() Their knees should be bent and their hands should be in the proper position.Īnother mistake involves those balls that are not hit with a lot of power, and instead kind of rolls on the ground towards you. Then, just before the batter connects with the ball, they should take one or two steps forward landing on the balls of their feet in their ready position. When they see the pitcher going back, that will alert them the pitch is about to happen. A simple way to do that is to teach them to pay attention to when the pitcher goes back to make a throw. So the first thing to do is to make sure that they get into the ready position. But what typically happens is you’ll see the kids either not in any ready position at all or with their hands on their knees. This position greatly helps you move quickly either to the right or left whenever the ball is coming at you. The ready position basically means that as the pitch is being delivered and just before contact, you’re going to get onto the balls of your feet and be somewhat squatted down with knees bent, butt up in the air, and both hands out close to the ground but not touching. ![]() ![]() Very often, the kids don’t get into the ready position. Some of the most common errors that we see in youth baseball infield play start with poor positioning.
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