I was taught a crow hop where you cross over the right leg in front of the left leg with a knee lift.
Like this
However now I see many pros not doing that but doing a shuffle stepping behind the left foot like this
http://noontimebaseball.com/tag/throwing-2/
What do you prefer?
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If he's charging hard, I'm OK with crow-hop (to get under control.)
Otherwise, I prefer shuffle step (to get rid of the ball quicker).
I'm with Freddy. Both are taught. Both are acceptable. Sometimes, the play dictates. The additional teach (or, really, un-teach) is to make sure you don't gain too much upward/ horizontal lift with your body during crow hop. Keep gaining linear ground toward the target and work on quick smooth transfer with the fewest steps necessary while assuring a strong balanced, rhythmic throw. I see a lot of guys literally hopping upward. Not good.
2018 started the shuffle 1 1/2 ago, but ended up inadvertently throwing and extra step in there when throwing so we went back to the regular crow hop and he has perfecting it ever since...
Son was taught crow hop which gave him that extra VELO at CF that he didn't have at MI. I would certainly think that would be the method to use if outfielder is charging at ball.
Both are correct depending on the strength o arm, distance to cut off or plate. and coaches preference. My son was taught crow hop in travel. HS coach more of a modified stutter with a shuffle because our field was "unpredictable" At Stanford camp, Stanford coach commenting on video thought son's timing was off because of the shuffle/stutter step as he approached the ball when in fact son was not used to fielding a ball on PERFECT turf.
Inside step is faster and better. If you are doing a showcase and are being gunned you can go with crow hop just for a little extra velocity but make sure you are creating a forward vector before you let go of the ball. In real baseball, touch to tag time is king. The faster you get rid of it, the better, regardless of velocity most of the time. The OF coach at Stanford is our travel coach and this is one of his huge points of emphasis. Of course this was in direct conflict of HS varsity coaches teachings. My son stood his ground and didnt change to the HS taught technique. HS coach got a little PO'ed until he watched Andrew McCutcheon use the exact same footwork on a televised game that night. The next day coach told my son he could keep using his footwork with the inside step. You actually are fielding off of opposite foot compared to crow hop technique as well, so there is a learning curve, but a stopwatch doesnt lie.
