how are D1 colleges teaching to field a ground ball. i learned this weekend instead of the "old school" or baseball way hands out front, soft hands pull the ball to belly or chest. to have hands out front and down, push glove to the ball and continue with glove up to throwing position. was told fastpitch game so much faster than baseball. any thoughts or comments.
fielding ground ball
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I saw the same thing.
The approach to the ball and the transfer to the throw are much more aggressive than we have been teaching. We (10U) were teaching like you explain. Field it out in front, glove to the belly, then hop to the throwing position and throw. Now we are shifting towards taking a step, fielding with the glove foot forward, then step to open with the throwing side foot, and follow through with the glove side foot. Basically a quicker transition, and moving forward shortens the throw by 8 to 10 feet. The girls need to find the confidence to field the ball while moving, instead of waiting for the ball.
The approach to the ball and the transfer to the throw are much more aggressive than we have been teaching. We (10U) were teaching like you explain. Field it out in front, glove to the belly, then hop to the throwing position and throw. Now we are shifting towards taking a step, fielding with the glove foot forward, then step to open with the throwing side foot, and follow through with the glove side foot. Basically a quicker transition, and moving forward shortens the throw by 8 to 10 feet. The girls need to find the confidence to field the ball while moving, instead of waiting for the ball.
This is what Fernandez taught at a clinic some years back and it's what the Mets taught a friend of mine in the minors way back in the day and it works so it's what I teach.
my dd fields this way. i couldn't get her to get the "squat" just right so she could transition on a hard hit ball, so i taught her this. been doing it for 3 years now. i really push this with my 3rd base"men"...the old-timers don't like it, but it gets results.
The'new school' way places much emphasis on momentum. Newsoftballdad describes what Howard Kobata teaches. The momentum gained combined with quicker transition and shorter throws really gets results. Both of Kobatas DVD's are well worth the money. His techniques really speed up the 'D' and leads to aggressive play. VW
I was at a clinic a few weeks ago and the taught the same thing. However, when I inquired about "soft hands" I was told that for fielding most ground balls the soft hands way was correct. The technique you are talking about was for aggressively handling short hops,at least that was what the instructor said.
The last clinic that I was at, Candrea said that he doesn't use the softhands gloves because he doesn't want the infielder bringing the ball up and into the chest. (Something that I, sometimes, teach.) He said that he doesn't even want the ball going into the pocket of the glove.
I didn't know what he meant with the last comment, but no one asked him about it. They were not fielding from the back of their glove.
I didn't know what he meant with the last comment, but no one asked him about it. They were not fielding from the back of their glove.
I think that I saw somewhere someone had a drill that they fielded with the glove, but never opened it, they basically picked the ball off of it. I guess like Mark is suggesting with the training glove. As with hitting I am learning there are many different methods used even at a high level.
