I really aspire to be a consistent fielder so much so that a gold glove is worth more than any hitting award to me usually. Its a sign of a ballplayer and 95% fielding is just a cool part of the game to me. I love catching deep flyballs and taking infield, but grounders are my favorite to work with. I'm consistent with my grounders as I field the vast majority of them but the ones I mishandled are almost always weak ones that pop up (on the ground/hop not off the glove) after practically rolling on the ground. Its frustrating as I field all of them cleanly (I.e. 30/30) and then I have these that bounce up and nearly hit my chest, sometimes my throwing hand, definitely my wrist, or I just bobble trying to recover for the sudden hop. In effect, bringing that 30/30 sometimes significantly lower (which is borderline devastating to me and my pro quality fielding mindset) and can also be an impairment to my aggressiveness (Being afraid they'll pop up and causing me to make a mistake.) Do I just need to concentrate more, if im able to (the field isn't in bad shape)? Do I check my glove position, or other technique? Should I Just smoother it if I'm not on the run? Really I'm just wondering what I can do to field these cleanly. It becomes really evident on the backhand, as a true roller, a high bouncing ball especially, or even on the shorthop it is much easy then one of these sudden weak hoppers. Actually, this issue seems to be the worst one, as much as I hate to have my favorite part of playing be one of struggle. My technique at the plate wasn't completely there but I plan on reworking that during the summer. I catch the vast majority of flys (95+%) and have a consistently accurate arm with oftentimes straightline power. But, I think this aspect is limiting my game the most. Any help on this issue and how to fix it over the summer? Thank you for your time.
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