Yea I pitched and played firstbase from little league to highschool and played travel baseball for coaches that played pro or college. But your right you have to read the hops and move your feet but some of them are easier said than done. Because I've had times where the ball was hit so hard that it hits the lip of the grass and bounces over me. But what your taught is to be on your toes before the ball hits and what we would call the creep. Because your moving toward the plate as the pitcher releases the ball but as you are fielding the ball to get your glove down all the way to ground and get in front of the ball and let it play off of your chest. Ron Washington who is the third base coach for the Atlanta Braves also is in charge of the infielder's has some really good infield drills that I would check out for all you young infielders out there
You are absolutely correct, sometimes there isn’t much the player can do to find a hop, especially at first and third base. And funny that you mention Ron Washington, my college coach played for him in the minors for a while and often told us he was the best infield guy in the game!
@@eliteyouthbaseball2885 Yea if there is any young players who play the infield and your goal is to get better then I strongly suggest that you look up Ron Washington's infield drills
Not nearly as difficult as it might first appear. Like anything, it takes lots of reps while doing the proper drills, but most of our infielders start doing a pretty good job of "finding the hop" around 12u-13u. Considering I wasn't taught this until college, I'd say they're ahead of the game! lol Thanks for the comment
I really appreciate your insight on this topic. Do you think in the future you could make a video on how to “make” better hops with good footwork and how to create a good prepitch to get you ready for fielding? If you can, it would be greatly appreciated since good info from former d1 athletes are hard to come by.
i can give you want tip for corner infielders, if its s tough hop… step back with your left feet to create more space to grab de ball at a good spot. regards a dutch shortstop
Absolutely, in the right circumstances of course. I’d much rather field the easy hop, even if that means I get into a less than ideal fielding position, than I would get into a perfect fielding position and try and handle a tough, in between hop. I call these “bailout techniques”, where the infielder intentionally sacrifices form at the last second to attack the easy hop.
@@eliteyouthbaseball2885 bailouts also like last moment drop step. Perhaps more applicable on the corners when there is less time to move the feet optimally
Come on, with hot grounders that have big long hops there is no way you can move up10 feet or back 6 to 8 feet in a half a second to get a down hop. You are lucky to be tracking the ball with your eyes accurately. This method would work for the slower grounders that are already easy in the first place. What do you think those pros that missed the grounders in the video would say if you suggested they should have moved up 6 - 10 feet in the blink of an eye to get a down hop instead. Might be some salty language coming back. I really think most great infielders move their feet very well and have fantastic hand reaction and coordination from hours of practice and natural skill.
As a former division 1 infielder, and college middle infield coach, I can assure you that “reading hops” is absolutely a fundamental of high level infield play. In fact, the best thing I could put into a potential infielders report when scouting possible recruits was, “great feet”. Great feet = reading hops and fielding the correct one whenever possible. I will take an infielder with great feet over great hands any day. A player who has great feet will eliminate the need for great hands on 9 out of 10 ground balls because his feet will put him into position to field the easy hops. Is this achievable on every ground ball in every situation? No, you are correct, it absolutely is not. Is this a fundamental skill set that all higher level programs work on, is learnable with the correct drills, and will greatly improve the fielding percentage of players who work at it? Absolutely. Whether you choose to believe, use, or incorporate this information into your game, is completely up to you. Either way, I wish you the best, and thanks for the comment. Coach Rizz
Glove hand foot needs to lead the progression. The easiest way to get down is to have the glove hand foot in front to begin with. Even feet in ready position spell disaster.
This video had potential and then I heard the narrator giving a few "umm" and "uhh" and essentially stroked out on the message he was trying to give. What was this video about again?
