Fielding Drills- Glove Side Leg Drop

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Dec 18, 2016
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I have a great little 2nd baseman that has one small quirk, where she drops her glove side leg back when making a ground ball stop. It's really pronounced when the ball is head on to her. I'm looking for drills where she's more circling into the ball. I've noticed when she's moving, she doesn't do it nearly as much.

Thanks
Dave
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Just a general drill and might not apply but put a cone in front of her and roll a ball at it, she needs to go right of cone to catch the ball. I think the technical term is like a banana.

Bigger problem might be why is she waiting on ball that she has time to drop her leg back? Maybe work on always get her moving?
 
Dec 18, 2016
163
28
Yes she moves towards on a slow roller or not a hard hit ball, but with a pretty solid hit ball she has a tendency to be a little timid. I'll check out the cone drill. Thanks.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
One of the stories I like was DD friend was playing 2nd and the ball was hit at her a 100mph, caught it and threw the ball to 1st for easy out. Both teams clapped for her.

She told DD her eyes were closed and next thing she knew ball was in her mitt. What is this in my mitt? Throw it it to 1st. :)

DD primary field position is 2nd, some balls hit to her are more self preservation then anything else.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
One of the stories I like was DD friend was playing 2nd and the ball was hit at her a 100mph, caught it and threw the ball to 1st for easy out. Both teams clapped for her.

She told DD her eyes were closed and next thing she knew ball was in her mitt. What is this in my mitt? Throw it it to 1st. :)

DD primary field position is 2nd, some balls hit to her are more self preservation then anything else.

Reminds me of an adult slow pitch game I played in a few years ago. One woman was subbing at second base. She had played before, knew the basic rules, but wasn't a "softball player." She was incredibly nervous about screwing up (and our team was not only not good, but we were thankful she was there so even if she had screwed up nobody would have been upset). Naturally the first play of the game was an absolute rocket ground ball. Stuck her glove out, caught the ball, threw to first. Easy out. She didn't have her eyes closed, but she did say she just kind of stuck her glove out and it went in. Better to be lucky sometimes, I guess.
 

Chris Delorit

Member
Apr 24, 2016
343
28
Green Bay, WI
I have a great little 2nd baseman that has one small quirk, where she drops her glove side leg back when making a ground ball stop. It's really pronounced when the ball is head on to her. I'm looking for drills where she's more circling into the ball. I've noticed when she's moving, she doesn't do it nearly as much.

Thanks
Dave

Hi Dave,

You'll have to be more specific with the circumstances surrounding the ground ball play. A 2nd baseman may "circle" in a play where there is a soft hit ball to her left that requires a semi-directional charge, rotation and maybe an underhand throw to 1st.

Directionally, there's three movement scenarios. Left, center, right. The footwork will vary based on whether you have a forehand, traditional or backhand play.

If you're describing a traditional straight hit ball to your position player, she's normally attacking the ball off of the bat. If she's a righty, try "left-right-left" footwork to the play where the ball is gloved almost simultaneously with the left foot plant in an athletic manner with the real end low to the ground (imagine sitting on a 5-gallon pail). The right foot is the trailing plant with a natural short step, and she'll immediately weight shift load to the right leg after fielding the ball in order to produce power in the transfer back to the front side ball release.

It sounds like your player may be sitting back on plays, as well as just drop stepping the wrong foot. If she's been hurt by any bad hops in the past, she may fielding on the glove side of her body rather than centering up the ball. In order to make room for that glove position, she has to create space and may have picked up a bad habit of bailing the left leg to make room. Or, maybe she's been hit in the left shin before and you know...it hurts! Whatever way, she's either developed some poor technique or just hasn't learned good technique yet.

Really, just slow rolling balls to her from a bucket should work just fine. Confidence building. If she's been hurt in the past, you can even use some wiffles or softies to start with. As mentioned above, you can work on timing and even call out nice and loud "left-right-left" (that's three steps forward) after rolling her the ball. You'll train out the backwards footwork by fielding the ball in the glove at a point just after the left foot plants into an athletic set, transfer & load to the right foot and then power transfer back to the left foot and ball release. You could also have your player eventually verbalize her footwork to the ball (until she's corrected the footwork) which can also help her become more confident in her general chatter/communication in the infield where she'll need it especially as a middle infielder. Once she's mastered that, you can move her on to the progressions of other plays.

Chris
 
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