I have a player on our team (14U B) who we started playing with at age 7.
She is an OK hitter, great bunter and very fast. A good ninth hitter who can start some innings for us.
She has always played short stop and has a strong and extremely accurate arm. If she fields it you are out.
The problem is that she is that she appears to lose the ball in the last couple of feet. I can't tell if it's being afraid
of the ball (a little) , anxiety, or something else. It's bad enough on ground balls but it's even worse on catching
throws to her. I can't have her take throws from home or cutoffs because she straight misses a lot (not even hitting
glove) if it's at all off line. We tried her at second but can't afford to lose the outs on routine plays. She is a decent
outfielder and can cover a lot of ground, but even there on balls she has to run for she will spring to ball, get a good jump
and just not go the extra couple of feet that would allow her to catch the ball. She doesn't talk much but you can tell
it's killing the kid. Her dad coaches a younger team and is the type of guy that will work with her all day if she wants, but not
if she doesn't ask for the help.
I know it's a have to see it issue, but really I just want to help this kid improve. The only reason she plays on Sunday is we have
a couple of legacy kids on the team who are just not ready. If anyone has any drills to help at the end of the play it would be great.
I think she is about to give up on the game and if she can't get over this problem it will happen.
She had pretty good fundamentals, it's just finishing the play.
She is an OK hitter, great bunter and very fast. A good ninth hitter who can start some innings for us.
She has always played short stop and has a strong and extremely accurate arm. If she fields it you are out.
The problem is that she is that she appears to lose the ball in the last couple of feet. I can't tell if it's being afraid
of the ball (a little) , anxiety, or something else. It's bad enough on ground balls but it's even worse on catching
throws to her. I can't have her take throws from home or cutoffs because she straight misses a lot (not even hitting
glove) if it's at all off line. We tried her at second but can't afford to lose the outs on routine plays. She is a decent
outfielder and can cover a lot of ground, but even there on balls she has to run for she will spring to ball, get a good jump
and just not go the extra couple of feet that would allow her to catch the ball. She doesn't talk much but you can tell
it's killing the kid. Her dad coaches a younger team and is the type of guy that will work with her all day if she wants, but not
if she doesn't ask for the help.
I know it's a have to see it issue, but really I just want to help this kid improve. The only reason she plays on Sunday is we have
a couple of legacy kids on the team who are just not ready. If anyone has any drills to help at the end of the play it would be great.
I think she is about to give up on the game and if she can't get over this problem it will happen.
She had pretty good fundamentals, it's just finishing the play.