Practice perfect makes a perfect practice
Sounds like you are standing flat footed letting the ball come to you. Be aggressive and attack the ball. When the pitcher starts his motion take a soft step toward the hitter staying on the balls of your feet like a tennis player getting ready for a serve. This will help take at least 90% of those short hops out of the equation. Note, not all. I could live with 90%, how about you?
Practice this everyday...take those very important steps and you will want the ball to be hit to you not to everybody else.
When do you practice these steps? Its called “BP” the best form of fielding practice you can get. Don't wait on the coach to hit you those needed ground balls.
Now don't scare yourself because every ball hit in the infield will now be yours. Balls hit in the hole now becomes a “can of corn” (easy play).
One last thing, when the hands go down the head goes down. Hands too far out in front or too deep in your stance will correct itself. This occurs when that soft step is taken...