Why I Started These Fielding Drills
Okay, so yesterday was ROUGH. Playing outfield, man… everything felt off. Ground balls? Let ’em through. Fly balls? Total disaster. Couldn’t catch nothing cleanly. Felt like wearing oven mitts instead of a glove. Went home kinda mad at myself, you know? Decided enough was enough. Found these three drills everyone online keeps shouting about. Figured, heck, let’s try ’em myself today before game time.
The Drills & My Messy Practice
First up: The “Short Hop Shuffle”. Grabbed my old glove and a bucket of beat-up balls. Stood maybe fifteen feet away from a concrete wall (my garage door, actually). Started just lightly tossing the ball underhand at the wall, aiming to make it bounce about a yard in front of me – those tricky in-between hops. Goal was simple: step forward slightly, get low like I’m sitting in a tiny chair, and scoop it up with soft hands before it jumped up too high. First ten tries? Awful. Ball hitting my shins, popping out of the glove. Focused HARD on keeping my eyes down watching the ball hit the dirt. Started moving my feet more. By bucket number three… maybe catching half. Still ugly, but less panic.
Then I moved on to: The “Reaction Wall Toss”. Needed a partner for this one. Dragged my little brother out back. Faced the wall, stood maybe ten feet back. Brother stood sideways maybe five feet behind me. He’d yell “NOW!” and chuck a ball fast at the wall. My job? React super quick when I heard him shout, spin around super fast, find the ball flying off the wall off the weird bounce, and go get it. Sounds easier than it is. First few? Whiffed completely. Ball bounced over my head, smacked the fence. Brother laughing didn’t help. Learned to kinda crouch, stay springy on my toes ready to jump any direction. Got better at taking just one extra step to get under it. Sweating bullets by this point.
Last drill: The “Cross Step Drop”. Needed some open space for this. Went to the park near home. Took a bucket way up to the top of a little hill. Started running sideways, then dropped the ball so it bounced a step or two ahead and slightly to the side. Had to change direction FAST, do this kinda cross-over step thing, and beat the ball to where it was gonna land. Oh man. Felt totally awkward at first. Like my legs weren’t talking to each other. Dropped the ball more than I fielded it. Forced myself to really push off the outside foot hard and swing the other leg across. Finally started connecting – getting my glove down fast enough to snag it low. Did this for ages. Legs were jelly.
What Actually Happened After
Could I feel a difference later? Honestly, heck yes. During our little pickup game that evening? Those first two drills showed up BIG time. Got a hard grounder with a nasty short hop – stayed low, hands soft, scooped it like I’d been practicing. Felt smooth! Later, a high sky ball drifted sideways – remembered that step-cross-step thing I struggled with earlier. Moved quicker, got under it cleaner. No magic bullet drills, but doing the ugly practice, making the mistakes, fighting through it? That’s what made stuff stick when I had to play fast.
Did I suddenly turn into a Gold Glover? Nope. BUT… those tricky hops and unexpected bounces? Didn’t freak me out near as much. Didn’t bail on them. Got the glove on the ball way more often than before. Felt way more confident going after stuff. That’s a big win for a few hours of feeling clumsy!
