How to drag the field?

[Rolling Hard]

Is there a best route/ pattern to drag the field? Water before or after you drag?
Also,
Does it upset you (like it does me) to have a coach take pregame infield with 7 to 10 players standing and fielding exactly where the SS is going to play? I have seen an ump (at my request) chase them off the field but that doesn't happen often enough. Come on coaches, use foul territory for pregame GBs.

 

[uncdrew]

I'm in charge of dragging the High School field. As you can imagine, it's a position of utmost importance and respect. Hah.

I do a few very careful laps around the far outside, trying my best to not hit the grass. Then I do a run from first to third going right in front of the pitchers plate and right behind the pitchers plate. Then I start doing tight circles around the pitchers plate slowly getting bigger and bigger circles until I've hit the areas I did first (around the outside).

I dump any collected dirt in the drag/fence/whatever you call it at the right hand batters box if the dirt is a bit wet. Then tamp that in and hand rake around home plate.

I'm usually dragging the field after games and practices, not before.


I'm certainly open to better techniques.

 

[Cougars]

When dragging close to the edge, keep the screen away from the edge of the grass. Dragging right up to the edge, or actually overlapping into the grass, is what causes a lot of the lips that develop on fields. Small amounts of the infield continuously being dumped in the grass. The grass keeps growing, and the "mound" keeps expanding. It's a little bit of a pain, but try to rake the perimeter 12" or so by hand, then use the drag.

 

[Dabears17]

I do very similar to what uncdrew does. I alternate between starting in the center of the infield and the outside of the infield. Every couple weeks, when I have time, I do the field in straight lines in addition to circle dragging, Home-1B to 2B-3B, then Home-3B to 1B-2B.

Duraedge has a blog on maintaining a field. I read through some of their stuff last August when the AD only wanted to purchase half of the minimum I thought I needed to get the softball field in good shape after he had spent a lot of money to redo the grass on the baseball field to minor league ballpark quality.

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[Dabears17]

Is there a best route/ pattern to drag the field? Water before or after you drag?
Also,
Does it upset you (like it does me) to have a coach take pregame infield with 7 to 10 players standing and fielding exactly where the SS is going to play? I have seen an ump (at my request) chase them off the field but that doesn't happen often enough. Come on coaches, use foul territory for pregame GBs.

On a field with sprinklers that don't put down a lot of water, I lightly water the field, then drag. Might not be the right thing to do, but during rec it worked. Sprinklers at the HS put down too much water, so I water after practice or during lunch and drag the field just before practice.

 

[tim_s]

what i do NOT recommend:

when the ATV dies before a playoff game, do not grab the chain and drag it along by hand.......you will come close to stroking out before you finish

 

[Towny9]

And

When dragging close to the edge, keep the screen away from the edge of the grass. Dragging right up to the edge, or actually overlapping into the grass, is what causes a lot of the lips that develop on fields. Small amounts of the infield continuously being dumped in the grass. The grass keeps growing, and the "mound" keeps expanding. It's a little bit of a pain, but try to rake the perimeter 12" or so by hand, then use the drag.

And rake it parallel to the grass/dirt line or you will just take dirt into the lip instead of dragging it into the lip.

 

[Towny9]

I'm in charge of dragging the High School field. As you can imagine, it's a position of utmost importance and respect. Hah.

I do a few very careful laps around the far outside, trying my best to not hit the grass. Then I do a run from first to third going right in front of the pitchers plate and right behind the pitchers plate. Then I start doing tight circles around the pitchers plate slowly getting bigger and bigger circles until I've hit the areas I did first (around the outside).

I dump any collected dirt in the drag/fence/whatever you call it at the right hand batters box if the dirt is a bit wet. Then tamp that in and hand rake around home plate.

I'm usually dragging the field after games and practices, not before.


I'm certainly open to better techniques.

Assuming the school has the ability to add it to the budget…

Baseball mound clay is sold in bags. It is the absolute best stuff to tamp into the low spots on the batters box and in the pitchers circle. I see so many places take the loose dirt and try to tamp it in and it lasts about one half inning before it’s a huge hole again.

Broom all the loose material out of the hole. Lightly wet the ground that is now free of all loose dirt. Then pour the mound clay into the hole and tamp away. It will last entire games that way. Eventually the batters box and circle will be all clay and will hold up incredibly well.

If the holes are really big you can do this same thing with clay bricks.

 

[John T]

We vary our pattern with the drags and the mowers being careful not to pull material to the edge of the grass.

Once the field is done I don’t worry about it. Not a reflection on me when the infield gets messed up. Going to anyway with infield outfield before the game.

 

[warbird]

what i do NOT recommend:

when the ATV dies before a playoff game, do not grab the chain and drag it along by hand.......you will come close to stroking out before you finish

This...