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quote:Originally posted by coach2709:
Wave - Jay welcome to the site and a little bit of friendly advice this question might better be asked in the fielding forum. But since you're here already here is my take.
The absolute best way is to take 1000 groundballs daily. Whether it's off a fungo or BP swings he needs to get deep and see how far that throw is. He needs to understand that you got to use power to get the ball over to 1B.
Now things you can do to help speed that process up is to start throing from one knee. Isolate the upper body so that the arm circle is controlled as to what you want with more over the top. This will help create muscle memory.
Another drill is long toss with a SS arm motion. Granted he probably won't throw it quite as far with a full arm circle but he wants that muscle memory and distance. He always has to throw through the 1B and not to 1B.
Hope these ideas help and I'm sure others will come on here and give you even better advice.
quote:Originally posted by Coach_May:
Of course you want to continue to work on gaining arm strength. But let me add some tips on this subject. Understanding how to take the proper path to the baseball based on how the ball is hit , where your target is located on that particular play , knowing your ability and what you need to do to put yourself in a posistion to make a play , putting yourself in a good throwing posistion by the way you approach the baseball to field it , and using the approach to create positive momentum towards your target before you ever field the baseball.
There are three types of Momentum your player will encounter. Neutral , Positive , Negative.
Neutral Mo - The baseball is smoked right at you and you have no time to create positive Mo before you field the baseball. You do not have any negative Mo working against you and you could not create any positive Mo before you fielded the ball.
Positive Mo - The baseball is hit in the direction that takes you to your target on your approach to the baseball to field it. An example of this would be a gb to your left at SS and the target is to your left.
Negative Mo - The baseball is hit in the direction that takes you away from your target on your approach to the baseball to field it. An example of this would be a gb in the hole to your left if your a SS and your target is to your left.
No how does understanding the proper approach and path the baseball assist you and how does Mo come into play?
Working towards your target on the approach allows you to play through the baseball and allows you to use positive Mo to your benefit in making plays. It allows a player to not rely on arm strength alone to make plays. It creates a smooth transistion from approach to field to throw which in reality can become one.
It also allows you to create positive Mo , it allows you to take the natural positive Mo by the ball being hit in a direction that is taking you to your target and use it to make plays , its allows you to take a negative Mo situation and turn it into a positive Mo situation.
Have you seen players that sit on everything? Have you seen players that work to get to the baseball and then stop to field then start again , then load up to throw? They are trying to rely on arm strength to make plays and end up in a poor throwing posistion and are long in getting to and out of the play.
Learn to play through the baseball. Learn how to create positive Mo by taking a path to the baseball that will create positive Mo towards your target. There are many drills you can use to assist a player in understanding how to take the proper path to the baseball depending on how it is hit and where the target is.
Cone drills , bucket drills , ball drills , there are many. Kids need to understand that there is much more to fielding a gb that fielding a gb. The approach is key , playing through it is key , creating positive Mo , turning neutral Mo into positive Mo by the path taken , turning negative Mo into neutral and sometimes turning negative Mo into positive. In fact the easiest part of fielding a gb is actually gloving a gb. But the most important part is fielding in a posistion to actually make a play.
Arm strength is important. Just like quickness , agility , footwork , approach are. The better you are at taking the proper path , the better you are at creating positive Mo towards your target , the better you are at playing through the baseball the less important your arm strength is. Now get your arm strength in a plus situation and learn to play through the baseball and learn to use Mo to assist you and your a player.
