Category: Infield
Type: Philosophy
Equipment: balls
Time: 15
Venue: Indoor & Outdoor
HANDS STAYING TOGETHER
In working with the infielders and trying to eliminate the ball that sails over the first baseman, I took some video of my infielders making throws across the diamond. I realized a very critical error they were making as athletes and one that I was not seeing as a coach. Nine times out of ten when the athlete separated his throwing hand from his glove hand while still moving toward first base, the throw was high.
So, what we have our kids do is try to throw with their feet!!! Yes, it sounds crazy but we do it...not literally of course. We have the kids keep their hands inside of their body, throwing hand with ball in glove. Next, they complete their footwork toward where they are going to throw and just let the ball fall out of their hands. With the momentum they create with their feet, the ball should actually roll away from their body.
What we force our infielders to do is to keep their hands inside their body until the last second at which they can separate and make their throw. In the video, we noticed that if that separation occurs to soon, the front side starts to fly out and the throwing arm lags behind making the elbow drop and the ball sail.
Submitted by: CoachB
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