While this may not be a long diatribe on getting to the ball quickly in order to throw someone out advancing to the next base, it is clearly one of the most generally under taught skill given to the outfielders. One reason is that unless this is a separated skill, one that is recognized for not only for it’s end result importance, but also for the fact that as these critical plays develop, unless there are 5 different camera angles taping the play, (and we all know that doesn’t happen), the coaches fans and even the position players never see the root cause for the offense taking the extra base, no one recognizes why the extra base was successfully taken.
Lets backup here for just a moment and recap the session on “getting good jumps”. Part of the drills used was for both infielders and outfielders to be looking “down the chute” and into the hitting area where contact must be made in order for the ball to be hit in our direction. Unlike in the infield, the area of contact gets be a little wider since there is much more outfield turf to cover for any one of the outfielders than there is for the infielders. The best way to develop that recognition is with BP and Tee work. However, once again, being near-sighted and not wearing corrective lenses pretty much eliminates the player from ever getting a good jump on any hit ball.
If we can eliminate poor vision, then we can begin to work on the drills and the almost instantaneous reaction that we should develop to where contact has been made in the hitting area and most importantly, where was the FIRST place that the ball touched the ground.
Lets remember we selected our outfielders based on at least three criterion; they can judge fly balls, they have average to above average foot speed, and they have an average or above average arm strength. When the ball is hit in the air everyone in the park can judge the outfielders skill at catching the fly ball. With hang times anywhere from 3-8 seconds, we can tell if the player can camp under it, or put a circus tent over it! We all have some time to observe the set up and final catch. When they finally catch the ball, we all can see whether the throw will bring down rain, or you can hang the morning laundry on it. The one aspect that we tend to lose sight of is, if the ball is hit on the ground, we all look to see if it is going to get through the infield first, even on a well hit ball. We seldom look at the outfielder to see what his approach to ball is like, and it’s that element of his effort that determines whether we throw the runner out trying to advance. Simply put, did he CHARGE the ball, or did he DRIFT to the ball? The REAL question is; does he know when to charge the ball and when to come under control?
So here is the simple rule of thumb and it’s not unlike what we teach our infielders to do on ground balls. You have to practice it daily. You have to demand that it is done correctly and you have to provide the comparison in the results between right and not-quite-so-right. As an outfielder, if the first time the ball touches the ground is in front of the edge of the OUTFIELD grass, then the outfielder must run, fly, charge, sprint -whatever your description of charging the ball is immediately. This is not a controlled sprint; this is the 100-meter Olympic finals kind of sprint. If you’ve placed the outfielders, based on hitting charts, at certain depths and alleys, then the player needs to know that their sprint to the ball is SO vital not just to get to the ball quickly, but most of all to increase their arm strength by substantially shortening the distance they have to throw. Suddenly the average arm in the outfield becomes much better simply because our aggressive approach to the ball has reduced the distance the typical casual approach taken by a good 20 to 30 feet, and in a game of inches, that’s a huge difference! Remember, the FIRST time the ball touches the ground BEFORE the outfield grass, it’s BONZAI! all the way until we are 15-20 feet from the ball at which time we get under control to come up cleanly with the ground ball.
What about the ball that hits on the outfield grass for the first time? We know that that ball was hit pretty damn hard so we need to read the hit to determine how strongly we can come to the ball without risking the ball getting by us and going to the fence. However, in almost every case, our first few steps should always be aggressive on ground balls hit directly at us or in the hole, so we can get to the best throwing position and shortest throwing distance that we can get to, as quickly as we can.
So you can see why this is a very neglected part of the outfielders routine. It’s really hard to see develop and in almost every case where a runner advances on a ball that the outfielder comes to slowly, the advancing runner gets some undeserved credit for being fast when an alert and aggressive outfielder should have cut him down by steps.
Start your outfielder with good vision, good speed, a strong arm and an understanding of what to do the first time the ball touches the ground and watch those assists go up!
Lets backup here for just a moment and recap the session on “getting good jumps”. Part of the drills used was for both infielders and outfielders to be looking “down the chute” and into the hitting area where contact must be made in order for the ball to be hit in our direction. Unlike in the infield, the area of contact gets be a little wider since there is much more outfield turf to cover for any one of the outfielders than there is for the infielders. The best way to develop that recognition is with BP and Tee work. However, once again, being near-sighted and not wearing corrective lenses pretty much eliminates the player from ever getting a good jump on any hit ball.
If we can eliminate poor vision, then we can begin to work on the drills and the almost instantaneous reaction that we should develop to where contact has been made in the hitting area and most importantly, where was the FIRST place that the ball touched the ground.
Lets remember we selected our outfielders based on at least three criterion; they can judge fly balls, they have average to above average foot speed, and they have an average or above average arm strength. When the ball is hit in the air everyone in the park can judge the outfielders skill at catching the fly ball. With hang times anywhere from 3-8 seconds, we can tell if the player can camp under it, or put a circus tent over it! We all have some time to observe the set up and final catch. When they finally catch the ball, we all can see whether the throw will bring down rain, or you can hang the morning laundry on it. The one aspect that we tend to lose sight of is, if the ball is hit on the ground, we all look to see if it is going to get through the infield first, even on a well hit ball. We seldom look at the outfielder to see what his approach to ball is like, and it’s that element of his effort that determines whether we throw the runner out trying to advance. Simply put, did he CHARGE the ball, or did he DRIFT to the ball? The REAL question is; does he know when to charge the ball and when to come under control?
So here is the simple rule of thumb and it’s not unlike what we teach our infielders to do on ground balls. You have to practice it daily. You have to demand that it is done correctly and you have to provide the comparison in the results between right and not-quite-so-right. As an outfielder, if the first time the ball touches the ground is in front of the edge of the OUTFIELD grass, then the outfielder must run, fly, charge, sprint -whatever your description of charging the ball is immediately. This is not a controlled sprint; this is the 100-meter Olympic finals kind of sprint. If you’ve placed the outfielders, based on hitting charts, at certain depths and alleys, then the player needs to know that their sprint to the ball is SO vital not just to get to the ball quickly, but most of all to increase their arm strength by substantially shortening the distance they have to throw. Suddenly the average arm in the outfield becomes much better simply because our aggressive approach to the ball has reduced the distance the typical casual approach taken by a good 20 to 30 feet, and in a game of inches, that’s a huge difference! Remember, the FIRST time the ball touches the ground BEFORE the outfield grass, it’s BONZAI! all the way until we are 15-20 feet from the ball at which time we get under control to come up cleanly with the ground ball.
What about the ball that hits on the outfield grass for the first time? We know that that ball was hit pretty damn hard so we need to read the hit to determine how strongly we can come to the ball without risking the ball getting by us and going to the fence. However, in almost every case, our first few steps should always be aggressive on ground balls hit directly at us or in the hole, so we can get to the best throwing position and shortest throwing distance that we can get to, as quickly as we can.
So you can see why this is a very neglected part of the outfielders routine. It’s really hard to see develop and in almost every case where a runner advances on a ball that the outfielder comes to slowly, the advancing runner gets some undeserved credit for being fast when an alert and aggressive outfielder should have cut him down by steps.
Start your outfielder with good vision, good speed, a strong arm and an understanding of what to do the first time the ball touches the ground and watch those assists go up!
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