Confident Defenders

 As a coach or parent, have you ever seen a fielder who could make outstanding plays when he/she had to range right or left, lay out for a ball, or stick it on the run... but struggle on routine balls right at them? As a player, is that you? If you've seen or experienced this, it probably means one of two things:

1) The player lacks confidence on those balls right at him/her. 

2) Dead feet.

Maybe it is a combination of both.

Here are my thoughts and I am mainly speaking about infielders... on the balls a player has to range for, there is no time to think, just react. Trust and use your athleticism. On balls right at you, many players freeze and lack trust in how they have prepared to make that play. Perhaps they have not prepared to make that play at all and rely fully on the glove being in the right spot at the right time by chance. Fielding a ground ball requires so much more than the ball going in the glove. There is a prep step, footwork, timing, glove presentation, burying eyes, and efficiently getting the ball to a throwing position. Without training yourself to do all those correctly and making it become second nature, the trust or the confidence may not be there. Too many players have dead feet when fielding a ball within the framework of their body. I don't have enough words or the ability to demonstrate this through a blog, so the purpose of this piece is mainly referencing the confidence it takes to be a good defender, specifically on the infield.

What makes a good defender?

Reps in and outside of practice is the obvious answer. The other part is confidence. That comes from three things:

1) Know the situation and what my job is every play, before the play. Understand where I am going with the ball and why. There are several things that could happen on any given play and I need to know what to do pre-pitch what those things are. Ball, Base, Backup, or Be the cut. If I get the ball, make the play. If I don't have the ball, but have a base responsibility, cover the base. If I don't have the ball or a base to cover, I am either backing up a base (even outfielders) or being a cut-relay man. 

2) WANTING the baseball. Have enough confidence that KNOWING when this ball comes to me, I am going to make the play. I speak from experience. I can remember struggling and praying the ball would be hit somewhere else or that the batter would strikeout. WRONG. Want the ball! It wasn't until I flipped that switch that my defense would change for the better.

3) EXPECTING the baseball. I have to anticipate the ball coming to me on every pitch. That is why a prep is important-- to prepare me and put me in a good position to make a play. If I want the ball, I'd better be prepared for it to come to me. 

How many ground balls have you, your player, or your kid ever fielded cleanly? I would hope a lot, too many to count. How many fly balls have you made a play on? How many cutoff men have you hit perfectly? How many throws across the infield have been on the money? If the answer is a lot or more than I can count, then the ability is there! The consistency comes from preparation in doing it right, trusting that preparation, knowing what to do with the ball, wanting the ball to come to you, and expecting it to do so. 

COMPETE with confidence in the field. And as always, do it with Discipline. Respect. Intensity. Passion.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

True DRIP

Welcome to DRIP-- a baseball blog focused on the Discipline, Respect, Intensity, and Passion in which the game of baseball should be approached.  Let me introduce myself. My name is Chris Shelton and I have been coaching baseball at various levels from travel to high school to college for the past 15 years. Before I really get into this, let me provide a disclaimer: I’m certainly no expert on baseball, coaching, program building, or life in general. However, through years of experience, many failures, and a few successes, I have learned some valuable lessons in those regards and have developed some philosophies about running a program, developing players, and the game itself that I believe in... really believe in. I did not have a spectacular baseball career, if you call it that, or play at a very high level. However, an ever-growing love for the game has allowed me to hang around long enough to learn a few things and develop some sort of philosophy on how the game should be played...
Read more

Good vs. Willing to be Good

Good vs. Willing to be Good There are two questions I always ask teams at the beginning of the season:  1) Who wants to be good? I ask them to raise their hands if they want to be good- a good player, a good team. Without fail, they all slip their hand up.  2) Who is willing to do EVERYTHING it takes to be good? I don’t ask them to raise their hands for question #2, but ask them to really think about it after I lay out what it takes to be good, to be successful. And we do take some time to define what success looks like for us.  Of course everyone wants to be good. Every individual has goals to be as good as they can be, contribute to the success of the team, maybe even make it to the next level. Every team has big aspirations— wins, playoff runs, championships. But far too many want to be good without the willingness, the sacrifice to do everything it takes to be good. Man… a lesson I wish I would have actively absorbed a little more as a player before it was too late! I...
Read more

The Dos and Don'ts

    I do not know everything about running a successful program, leadership, and certainly not everything about baseball. However, through years of experience, many failures, and a few successes, I have learned some valuable lessons in those regards.     While I am writing through the lens of a coach, these ideals and values are valuable lessons for players and coaches at all levels. So here it goes, my attempt at articulating some of the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” when it comes to baseball... and LIFE! 1. Do the right thing.    Following directions, being coachable, off-field behavior, classroom behavior and academics, how you treat people...      If I had to choose one principle that matters more than all the others combined, it would be this one: Do the right thing. All the time. Every single time. In my humble opinion, it should be the #1 expectation or standard of any program and any player… at any level.      It sounds...
Read more