My New Favorite Fielding Game

Practicing baseball in a gym for 4 weeks will force you to get creative. Those of you who have been following me, my blog, and my products over the past year and a half know that I have been making a huge push to make players more athletic and less robotic and mechanical.

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Accomplishing this for infielders in a gym is rather difficult since they don't see realistic hops. First, we gave our players a solid mechanical foundation from the ground up, now we are trying to make them as athletic within those mechanics as possible.

The three keys we use to help them develop this athleticism are "Tempo, Rhythm, and Timing." A game that we have been using recently to promote this athleticism is called the "Pick the Hop" game.

Players pair up and throw ground balls to one another. Right before they throw the ball, they call out a number of hops. Their partner tries to field the ball after than number of hops. Infielders have to move in, back, side to side, and keep their feet moving and under control to field the ball after the specified number of hops.

This drill requires a certain amount of trust that the "feeder" will give them a reasonable ground ball to be able to field it in the specified number of hops.

As this game is going on, emphasize the importance of fielding the ball in rhythm and not breaking momentum or stopping as they field it and get to throwing position.

After the players have worked the drill by themselves, throw the ball yourself and play a game of "Pick the Hop" knockout where you call the number of hops and throw the ball.

This drill will also work outdoors, but requires some "getting used to" by the feeder or fungo hitter.

If you liked this game, you'll LOVE our Developing A.C.E. (Athletic, Consistent, Extraordinary) Infielders online course.

In this course will learn:

How to stop creating still robotic infielders, and how to take advantage of their natural athleticism.
How to develop practices that focus on skill and mechanical improvement and are competitive and game-like.
How to maximize your warm-up time and start creating A.C.E. Infielders from the moment your practice/pre-game starts
Lead up drills to develop good hands and footwork
Tactical games to develop competitiveness and game-ready infielders
How to develop tempo, rhythm, and timing in your infielders
How to dramatically improve the % of double plays you turn
Full infield drills to maximize your infielders repetitions during practice
Three BONUSES that are too good to pass up!

Join Cornerstone Elite to get access to this course today!