43Drills

One of the most commons pitfalls seen by infielders is the mistake of fielding a ground ball too close to their body - often letting the ball get all the way in between their feet. Thi cuts down on their reaction time, and most bobbles tend to end up behind the fielder, making it difficult to recover and record an out on even a slow baserunner.

To help prevent your players from holding their arms too close to their body when fielding grounders, give them a mouthful of their cap! To perform the drill, the fielder should hold his hat in his mouth by the bill - the back of the hat should be facing away from his body. A coach then hits grounders at him, stressing proper footwork and fundamentals.

Since the hat will block a large portion of the player’s field of vision, he will be forced to place his hands further out in front of him in an effort to see the ball into his hands - and thus, to field the ball properly. Though the drill naturally helps to ensure this (and most players do so without even being told), make sure that your players actually are reaching out, and not trying to simply field the ball blind, else you will do more harm than good!

Younger players should simply field the ball. Older, more skilled players can incorporate the hat in the mouth drill into their normal fielding routines - making throws to first, covering bases, even turning double plays.

Olan Suddeth is a Dixie youth baseball coach from Birmingham, Alabama. His website, youthbaseballinfo.com, provides free reprintable articles, tips, and drills.

The purpose of this drill is to perfect your infielders’ skill against the bunt. To set up the drill, you’ll need your typical infielders, though a pitcher is optional. You can double the effectiveness of the drill by having some of your other players rotate as batters - let them take turns laying down bunts. Alternately, you can simply have your catcher (or a coach) roll soft grounders to simulate bunts, but I prefer using batters.

To perform the drill correctly, you need to emphasize the importance of hard charging by the fielders. Once the fielders see the batter squaring to bunt, the first and third basemen must charge at full speed to field the ball. Simultaneously, the second basemen and shortstop must wheel to cover the corners - the shortstop covers third base, while the second baseman covers first.

Have the fielders throw to the opposite corner - the third baseman throws to first, while the first baseman throws to third. Stress aggresiveness, since a timind corner infielder might as well let the catcher pick up the bunt. Don’t let them be afraid to overrun the ball, to pick up the ball barehanded, and to make throws on the run if need be.

You can of course mix things up by having the first baseman throw to first, and the third baseman throw to third, since both of these situations do show up in games. Once your players become proficient at the drill, you might want to mix in some regular hitting so that the fielders do not cheat.

Work this drill from time to time, and you’ll be amazed at the progress of your infielders.

Olan Suddeth is a Dixie youth baseball coach from Birmingham, Alabama. His website, youthbaseballinfo.com, provides free reprintable articles, tips, and drills.