Drills for 3rd base

GunnerShotgun said:

I would suggest Kobata's DVDs for footwork. Specifically off foot throws, cuts, and bunt coverage defense (footwork).

You can drills from now until the end of time and still not be a better defensive 3B. If this were true I could make anyone a great defensive player by simply doing drills (investing time).

You need foundation. There are others besides Kobata, but I like most of his stuff.

Click to expand...

Seconded.

1. Glove work. 2. Footwork/throwing angles (agree on Kobata). 3. Positional knowledge - ground ball fielding "territory"; pop up territory; BUNT ownership. Pickoffs and steals.

Practice. Practice some more. When she's done with that, practice again. Then, practicepracticepractice. Forehand, backhand, in the middle, line drives, diving left, diving right, attacking forward and left, throwing on the run...

Being skilled with the glove is critical at 3B. Slow hands is a hole on the left side of the infield. Be explosive. Slow feet will get destroyed by bunting.

Eric F said:

Practice. Practice some more. When she's done with that, practice again. Then, practicepracticepractice. Forehand, backhand, in the middle, line drives, diving left, diving right, attacking forward and left, throwing on the run...

Being skilled with the glove is critical at 3B. Slow hands is a hole on the left side of the infield. Be explosive. Slow feet will get destroyed by bunting.

Click to expand...

The bold is right on. Corner IF, and especially 3B, oftentimes need to just make a reaction play with their glove. Footwork, while still important, is not as critical as it is for MI in particular SS.
At SS footwork is the most important aspect of fielding. It is often the difference between getting a short hop or long hop, which are preferred,versus an in-between hop which are death.
Matt Antonelli just posted a video in which he talks about the "Now drill" which is relevant to this conversation regarding 3rd base.

First Kobata. Then, if speeding up reaction time is a goal a simple drill we use is to set up a pitching machine and have the player make plays against it. Start even with the bag, make the first play coming in and left, the next play in and right, getting closer each time. Speed up the pitch and change the elevation as skills improve. Talented players will end up making the last play within ten feet of the machine. You will visibly see players reactions improve in 30 minutes as they lose fear and gain anticipation.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Thanks guys. I’ll definitely give your advice a try!

I just ran across a drill yesterday while looking for 3rd base drills for my dd. It's called the "now" drill. Basically have them face the outfield, hit or throw a grounder at them and yell now. The object is to quickly turn, find the ball and field it. Of course you would start out not hitting or throwing too terribly hard until she gets the hand of it. Seems like it would be good for reaction time, takes the thinking out of fielding.

RichK said:

Ball everydays.



The next step, just starting as the video ends, is same drills with glove on.

After that, move to standing short hops with thrower about five feet away. -- 10 middle ten backhand ten forehand side. Then move thrower back to ten feet and 10 charging glove flips.

After that, especially for third basemen, we like to do rapid fire. Ready position, three balls short hop rapid fire: middle, back, fore. Do that a 10 times. Then do three balls short hop without telling them the pattern. Another 10 times.

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting!