My son is a shortstop and I admit, I used to yell to him to get in front of the ball
It was done clearly out of ignorance. I have long since quit coaching him however. Recently, we were in South Carolina to see him play where I hadn't seen him play since last August. I noticed clearly that they were taught to catch the ball exactly as PG describes above. Anything to the other side was backhanded. I was going to ask him about it and thought "Nah, they know what they are doing"
What kind of was an eye-opener for me, was how many ground balls they hit to a college shortstop and infielders in general everyday. Hundreds per day and I am sure this number increases at the pro levels. I got tired just watching them hit them ball after ball.