One Hop?

[tghorley]

I have searched the threads and could not find my answer so if this has been discussed, please let me apologize in advance.

My GDD started with a new team (12u, 98)a couple of weeks ago. She is a strong girl, a good catcher, has a good grasp of mechanics as taught by Coach Weaver, and works her tail off to get better. She has decent arm strength (getting stronger everyday) with quick mechanics and has thrown many runners out at 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. She has already been asked by a HS coach which district she is in. I hope you get the picture.

With her new coach(s), he wants her to one hop the ball to second. The same is true of the other catcher who has a stronger arm but not the mechanics. She has only been playing softball for two years but her personal coach and other coaches have taught her to hit the bag from day one. Now, during a game her pop time is not nearly as good as before. I asked her what the problem was and she said she was "thinking" about making a one hop throw. Hard to change two years of muscle memory.

Next week I am going to have a week long "boot camp" with her (like I said, she works her tail off). My question is, should I work on her making a one hop throw or throw to the bag?

I would like to talk to the coach face to face about his reasoning but I am from out of town and will not have a chance to talk to him before we start our boot camp. He lives in another town from her and I want to talk to him face to face, hate email and telephone conversations.

I hope I have given you enough information so you can help me make a "wise" decision.

Thx

PS: If a one hop throw is so good to second base, why not for first or third? Just saying....

 

[Bench Coach Dad]

Different coaches are always going to tweak things. The bottom line is that if she performs her way nothing will be said, however if she does it her way and fails she will be held responsible for not listening and not getting the job done.

If you do it his way and fail (NOT ON PURPOSE!) you always have the recourse of discussing it with him then, leaving him with very little leverage, and you going back to doing it your way.

I would give the “one hop” a chance. Sounds like she might pick it up quickly..

 

[Daddy O]

At 12u very few girls have the arm strength or mechanics (it will take both at that age) to throw it on a rope all the way to 2nd. Watch and see. Most girls even up to 14u will throw a nice rainbow to 2nd. Technically the ball should never go much above the pitchers head on a throwdown. So if your short stop can handle it then a one hop will almost certainly be quicker at that age. When my daughter (who has a pretty good arm at 14u) tried out for her first travel team last year the coach asked her to not throw the ball so high on her throwdowns. He said he did not care if it bounced, he just did not want to see any rainbow. Knocked .2 secs off her throwdowns when she one hops it. To this day she does not always one hop but she does aim for about 2ft high off right side of bag and sometimes it gets there on a rope, other times it hops. If you want to work on one hops have her try to hit ground about 7 - 9 ft in front of bag. Any closer than that will be a short hop and very hard to handle, even for a good shortstop. Good Luck with your training.

 

[GI Tom]

You may be able to thread the needle on this and end up teaching both as there is a good drill for it.

Take your ball bucket and place it laying down on the 1st base side of second base with the opening facing homeplate and the side of the bucket touching second.

Have your DD sit in her crouch behind the plate and place a ball in her glove, or, pitch to her if you want, either way works. Have her then simulate trying to throw out a baserunner as if the pitch just ended. Tell her you can stop the drill when 5 balls get in that bucket. This will teach her a bunch of things. Firstly, to keep the ball low and she will see what her arm strength really is. Secondly, she'll understand now what the coach means by hopping the ball in. Thirdly, you get her used to throwing to a location and blocking out worrying if her teammate is covering, etc.

The most important part of this drill is making your DD understand that the ball needs to be right there at that bucket opening so a tag can be applied into a sliding runner. Whether it gets there on a hop or on a rope doesn't matter as long as it gets to that location. This will demonstrate what the coach means and hopefully make her understand more.

You will probably find that she cannot get 5 balls in the bucket in one session at first. If she does, then you have no problems.

 

[tghorley]

Thanks for the advice that you have given, it has really set my expectations in the right direction. As for the boot camp, it was a blast. I have not had as much fun in years. I worked GDD very hard and she never complained and sometimes even asked for more. We not only concentrated on her catching, batting, outfield, infield, base running, situations, etc. but conditioning also. She also had two team practices and never told the coaches about our training and never let up at those practices. So proud of her.

Again thanks for the advice.

Oh, she would even asked when we were going to do the bucket drill. Sometimes we had to do it twice in a session just to please her.

 

[GI Tom]

Glad to hear it!

Also, keep in mind, this drill can be used for any level, you just have to change the size of the bucket/target. For 8-10U I used a rubbermaid trashcan on its side. Sounds big, but for them, if they can get anywhere near that, still ok. Sometimes weaker 12U's can use the trashcan size as well.

 

[Country Boy]

As a former middle infielder and the father of one now, if you are going to short hop, make sure the hop is occuring well in front of the bag. Give the fielder time to react to the ball and make the catch before going for the tag.

Given that my teams don't always play on perfectly manicured fields, I would prefer the ball get there in the air. Once that ball hits the ground on a field that hasn't been drug for the last 3 games, no telling where it is going. Good way to get my SS to start pulling her head out.

I had a catcher one time playing for me that wanted to consistently hit the ground about 12-18" in front of the fielder. Way to close for the fielder to react to a bad bounce. Consistently missing the ball or deflecting it rather than fielding it cleanly. SS was starting to pull off the ball to protect her face and body. Catcher started yelling at her to catch it. So I tried a new drill with the catcher. I told her we were going to work on blocking pitches in the dirt. She started to gear up and I said she won't need that. She looked at me funny. I said her SS doesn't have all that gear and you are wanting her to stop balls in the dirt. Obviously you don't need it either. You know, that catcher started throwing that ball to second in the air and everyone was a lot happier (and successful!)

 

[vdubya]

I'll share something I got from Coach Weaver a couple of years ago. Coach was very generous with his advice and time and I feel it is the least I could do to share what he gave me.

Coach and I were talking on the phone about a problem that Country Boy mentioned above. My young catcher was consistently getting the ball to the SS in time for a tag out, but the SS was consistently mishandling the one-hop. I asked "When is she old/strong enough to make the throw to the bag?"

Coach answered that if she is consistently beating runners, then she probably has the arm strength to eliminate the hop, and here is what he suggested: Place a bucket or rubbermaid ten to 12 feet deeper than second base in center field. It needs to be on the ground with the open end to the catcher. Have your catcher practice throw downs to that target 95 feet from home plate. This will add a little height to the throw without rainbowing it.

Practice that. Eventually when you add a SS to that drill, the C can still throw to the bucket, but SS can run over and cut the throw. If the throw is on track to hit the bucket at 95', it will be a nice height for a SS to cut at the base (85') and be able to apply the tag. Problem solved. No more one hopping and a lot more outs converted.

Next step is of course to bring the height down as much as possible. Coach suggested moving the bucket incrementally closer to 2B for this.

I'm only relaying the phone conversation advice from Coach, but it did work for the catcher and team I was inquiring about. You do eventually have to go to the bag if you want consistent outs. Thanks Coach, we miss you!

VW