Hard Hit Ground Balls to the Outfield

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Jun 8, 2016
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Personally I don't like the "do or die" until the situation calls for it., bottom of 7 with winning run on 2nd. The again, like I mentioned above she could be more aggressive.

In regards to her technique, she plays it safe when nobody is on.. then she charges passively with runners on, very much like an infielder charging she still uses two hands which I am not a fan of in the outfield
As a SS I was always ultra aggressive and charged using 1 hand. I played on some crappy fields and I figured the less hops it took the less chance it had of taking a bad one. That said you still need to use your feet to get the good hop regardless. Charging in the OF using two hands is not a good idea IMO but getting the 1 hand charge down as a former 3B will take some work, for both getting the good hop and then throwing properly (whether you use a crow hop or step behind, e.g. stuff IF never need to worry about). Warm up your fungo :)

Does her team work on this stuff at practice? Won't be enough reps in practice to get it down but they should at least be teaching them the proper technique.
 
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May 12, 2016
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As a SS I was always ultra aggressive and charged using 1 hand. I played on some crappy fields and I figured the less hops it took the less chance it had of taking a bad one. That said you still need to use your feet to get the good hop regardless. Charging in the OF using two hands is not a good idea IMO but getting the 1 hand charge down as a former 3B will take some work regarding footwork, for both getting the good hop and then throwing properly (whether you use a crow hop or step behind). Warm up your fungo :)

Does her team work on this stuff at practice?
That's what we preach to the kids as well on the infield.. we want them charging and being aggressive. In the outfield it's a different story when nobody is on with a hard ground ball, they are getting to 1st regardless, keep the ball in front and prevent them from getting to 2nd. If that ball gets pass you, it's triple or even a HR. There's no security net in the OF on a hard hit ball, even with cover they aren't getting there fast enough
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
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That's what we preach to the kids as well on the infield.. we want them charging and being aggressive. In the outfield it's a different story when nobody is on with a hard ground ball, they are getting to 1st regardless, keep the ball in front and prevent them from getting to 2nd. If that ball gets pass you, it's triple or even a HR. There's no security net in the OF on a hard hit ball, even with cover they aren't getting there fast enough
Of course with nobody on you are not charging it but you seemed to be implying the issue was when there were runners on and she had to make a throw. I don't see MLB OF'ers holding back,e.g. using two hands, when there is a potential throw to be made to a base.
 
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May 12, 2016
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Of course with nobody on you are not charging it but you seemed to be implying the issue was when there were runners on and she had to make a throw. I don't see MLB OF'ers holding back when there is a throw to be made to a base. You cannot change how you play based upon field conditions..my DD has that issue. Crappy field/fast field she plays the ball differently then when the field is watered down and dragged..drives me nuts. Play it the correct way regardless.
If a SS doesn't charge a ball that should be charged it's a base hit and the runner is on first. If a SS charges the ball and makes a good play, the runner is out, if SS misses the runner is on first and outfield has the ball. So yes it's pretty cleat cut and dry on the infield.

In the outfield if it's a tie game with the winning runner on 2nd in the bottom of the 7th, it's a do or die situation. The OF has to charge the ball hard and if they come up with it they have a play at the plate. However lets say bases are loaded in the 1st or mid innings, the OF cannot charge the ball hell bent for leather. They still charge, but it's not do or die. There's no safety net in the OF on a hard ground ball like there is in the IF. So they must charge but they cannot let the ball get pass them.. so it's not so aggressive as the "do or die situation"
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
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If a SS doesn't charge a ball that should be charged it's a base hit and the runner is on first. If a SS charges the ball and makes a good play, the runner is out, if SS misses the runner is on first and outfield has the ball. So yes it's pretty cleat cut and dry on the infield.

In the outfield if it's a tie game with the winning runner on 2nd in the bottom of the 7th, it's a do or die situation. The OF has to charge the ball hard and if they come up with it they have a play at the plate. However lets say bases are loaded in the 1st or mid innings, the OF cannot charge the ball hell bent for leather. They still charge, but it's not do or die. There's no safety net in the OF on a hard ground ball like there is in the IF. So they must charge but they cannot let the ball get pass them.. so it's not so aggressive as the "do or die situation"
Fair enough, regardless she needs to work on using her feet to pick the good hop. I personally don't think charging using 2 hands is a good idea in the OF.
 
Jun 8, 2016
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Couldn't agree more...
and like I said, sometimes it is easier to throw her balls for which she is going to have to use her feet to get the good hop. Maybe before you hit some to her, throw her 20 to 25 balls first. I've never done it for OF so I don't know..I guess you could try it and let me know how it works since my 1 year old appears to be throwing LH much to my dismay.. :LOL:
 
Aug 5, 2015
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Seems like you know what she should be doing, but I'm guessing she probably isn't actually doing all of what she should be.

My only other advice would be to get low and get a lot of body in front of the ball in case of those bad hops.
 
Aug 20, 2017
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On the do or die technique I don’t teach a hard charge due to the size of the field. I do teach the player to get the right side of the getting the ball off the glove side foot, chopping feet early and stepping into the ball with the glove side foot. We then get our face as close to the ball as possible and work through the bottom of the ball. This technique helps with the crow hop after fielding. We do with runners on base. But like anything else you have to rep it a million times. We start doing it dry with a stationary ball and the partners roll balls to each other in a controlled environment. Hard it balls are tougher and we simply get our feet like an infielder and try to work through it. We teach both methods: do or die technique and routine technique
 

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