Golfman25 posted:[quote] I want our OF to throw a line to his target to get there with velocity.
We want no more than 2 hops. Anything more than 2 hops is a weak throw which gets us to the next one... [/quote]
This is so important. Bad coaches don't teach/enforce this. They talk about "hitting the cut" as opposed to throwing to the target. I don't have enough fingers and toes to tell you how many outs we have given up and runs allowed because of this.
I tell my guys that they are throwing from point A (where they are) to point B (home, third, second) and the cut / relay guy is there to help. He's not a point in the line we are making. We practice this a lot mainly by having OF throw without a cut relay guy initially. Teach them to throw all the way to where the play is. I have my cut / relay guys stand and see where each guys throw first bounces so they get an idea of where they need to position themselves. We still want the overall idea of 2/3 to 1/3 of the throw being made by OF.
All that being said - last week my LF had to throw to the plate in our 2nd round playoff game. Guy rounds third and my LF comes up throwing this majestic arc of a throw that's easily 10 feet over my 3B head. It was beautiful arc that geometry teachers would use for years to teach something. Soon as I saw it leave his hand I turned to watch the hitter round first and head to second easily.
So back to the coaching when we start summer ball in a couple of weeks. Maybe it will stick this time.