Getting Low

[Rajun Cajun]

Any of you coaches out there have any suggestions on specific drills or things we can do to make it easier for a young player to get DOWN or LOWER in his approach to the ball.

My 10 year old has a good glove and he plays is a middle infielder. I constantly hear his coach telling him to get lower to the ball. He rarely misses a ball due to bad hops and I think that is due to hand eye coordination, but the plays could be easier and more routine if he just listened to his coach. I don't want to fuss at him, but it would be better if I knew how to help him fix this so he can be more efficient and make the routine plays look effortless and the tough plays look a bit smoother.

I don't think he is deliberetly defying his coach, I just think he doesn't know what "low" really is.

Mark

[TG Coach]

Take a milk crate out to the field. Have him sit on the edge with his glove out. Explain to him that is getting low. He doesn't want to be reaching down for the ball with his arms extended. Make sure his hands are out in front. It's harder to field when the ball gets underneath the body. It's also harder to make a play on a bobble when it's not out in front. Make sure he's using either the "alligator" or "pinkies together" approach to fielding routine grounders (I prefer alligator).

Then it's about reps. After enough reps the grounder with the bases loaded and two outs is the same as the thousands of grounders he's fielded in practice. When my son converted from catcher/centerfielder to shortstop at age ten he took at least five hundred grounders a week early in the year. Then it tapered down to two hundred. In high school he still takes several hundred grounders per week early in the year. It tapers off over the course of the season. His season is ten months long now. He has to pace himself once he feels he's ready to play.

Your son can also practice taking grounders bouncing a rubber ball off a garage door or wall. At fifteen my son does this drill called Scoops with his best friend, who plays first. They make hard throws at each other from close range intended to short hop them.

[Rajun Cajun]

Awesome! "He doesn't want to be reaching down." That is the part I need to convince him of. He for some reason thinks reaching down is "okay." I need to convince him otherwise. It seems like common sense, but if you are reaching down you can't possibly see the ball, the glove and the approach the ball is taking. To me, you can only see all 3 things if down as low as you can because this unique perspective allows you to see it all.

I will try this tomorrow!

[nick e]

Take a milk crate out to the field. Have him sit on the edge with his glove out. Explain to him that is getting low. He doesn't want to be reaching down for the ball with his arms extended. Make sure his hands are out in front. It's harder to field when the ball gets underneath the body. It's also harder to make a play on a bobble when it's not out in front. Make sure he's using either the "alligator" or "pinkies together" approach to fielding routine grounders (I prefer alligator).

Then it's about reps. After enough reps the grounder with the bases loaded and two outs is the same as the thousands of grounders he's fielded in practice. When my son converted from catcher/centerfielder to shortstop at age ten he took at least five hundred grounders a week early in the year. Then it tapered down to two hundred. In high school he still takes several hundred grounders per week early in the year. It tapers off over the course of the season. His season is ten months long now. He has to pace himself once he feels he's ready to play.

Your son can also practice taking grounders bouncing a rubber ball off a garage door or wall. At fifteen my son does this drill called Scoops with his best friend, who plays first. They make hard throws at each other from close range intended to short hop them.

that's actually a great idea...wish i learned about it when i was younger. I was going to suggest something similar, have him stand against a wall in a wall sit position (knees parallel to the floor, like hes sitting on an imaginary chair) and hit him routine ground balls, not screamers, just grounders, and let him feel it in his legs. the burn in the legs might give him a reminder of what it feels like to get low.

if this sounds like something that wont solve the problem, then don't do it, obviously. its just something i did to help stay down on balls in middle school. the milk crate idea works really well tho

[Jim W.]

I agree with TG Coach. Another idea that may help paint the picture of getting down is one I learned from Mark Johnson. As you are approaching the ball, go down as if your a plane landing. Not a helicopter, a plane.

[Rajun Cajun]

I can't believe I didn't think of that. I've been flying planes since I was 15 (now 39) and I fly commerically! Good analogy.

MB