quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
Quote talking about baseball gloves…
• I like my glove to be very flexible so I like soft leather.
• I do not like a glove with a deep pocket because when you are turning a double play, the ball can get lost in a deep pocket. I like a relatively flat, shallow glove, which allows you to find the ball quickly.
• Tying any of the laces that stick out from a glove makes it tighter and more rigid. Since I like my glove to be flexible, I just let the laces dangle. When I get the glove new, all the laces are tied up in knots but they eventually work themselves loose and then I just let them stay that way.
• My glove is pretty small, even for a middle infielder. Second basemen usually have the smallest gloves of all the fielders, and in most cases, shortstops will have slightly bigger gloves than second basemen.
• All of the guys in the clubhouse know that I also don't like anyone putting their hand in my glove. It's built for my hand, and if someone else puts their hand in it to try it on, I can usually tell, because it will feel looser on my hand when I put it back on.
• It's hard to say exactly what makes a good baseball glove, but mostly it has to feel right to you.
• In cold weather, sometimes I will spray some stick-um on the inside of my glove to give my hand a better grip on the inside of the glove. I spray it on the outside of the thumb so I can rub my throwing hand on it for a better grip on the ball for throws.

PG,

I guess this explains why I never made it to the next level. hahaha I like my gloves the opposite of Alomar:

I HATED soft gloves. I constantly tightened my laces to make sure it was tight and firm...except for the web, which was loose.
I like a deep pocket. I caught everything in the pocket and always knew where to find the ball for transfer
I played with an 11 1/2" pattern, even at 2B

I DO agree with Alomar that NO ONE was EVER allowed to put their hand in my glove.

I'm no middle infielder, but what i've heard from my coach and 'mates, is that you don't catch the ball, you merely use your glove to stop the ball. "catch" it in the palm without closing the glove (read: stop with palm) and use the other hand to keep it from falling out. The only time you ever use the pocket is to catch line drives/pop-ups, etc.

Don't quote me, but thats just what I've heard.

when i turn a douple play i like to be fluid and smooth. i never close my glove, i just kind of stop it with two hands. but when im in the motion of catching it i round the catch into my throw, so its quicker.

My son, 14 at the time, had the opportunity to meet Julio Cruz (Mariners)way back in 1996 and Julio was nice enough to spend about 20 minutes with him going over glove work. Deflecting the ball during a double play was what Julio taught him. My son took that lesson to heart and perfected the art to the point where he seemingly got rid of the ball before he had it. Years later his defensive skills are what afforded him the opportunity to play some pro ball at the double A level in Canada.

And he also gets a bit agitated even today when somebody tries to put on his glove.

Deflecting the ball is a fun trick to learn, but does it happen in the game??? Show me the video.

An infielder neither deflects nor catches routine ground balls - they stop the ball with their glove while covering the ball with their throwing hand. Ground balls are moving, spinning, changing directions... You have to do what will help you be consistent.

On the Alomar quotes: I could lose sleep over somebody cranking on my game glove. Don't touch and/or work on someone's gamer without explicit permission. =)

Here is video of my son deflecting on DP's. He does it all the time in games. The quality of the video leaves a little to be desired. Look at 1:37 and at the very end of the video.

deflecting on DP's

I don't see a deflection... He's not getting his hand all the way in his glove for a transfer on the DPs. Maybe its just a terminology thing?

For the sake of discussion, I will have my business partner "deflect" the ball the way I'm thinking and post a video.

I have to agree. I played it back a few times and tried to stop the frame at the transition point. Finally got it at a frame where his right hand is clearly all the way in the glove to grab the ball.

He IS very quick, though. Terrific quick release and very athletic. Jonathan has grown! He looks great!

Thanks Rob,
How does Jeff like school?
How did fall ball go?

Bobby,

I don't have a lot of video examples, but he does avoid catching the ball in the pocket. His gloves all have a mark in the palm where he deflects. He can get away with using a new glove in games that he's only played catch with a couple times just for the fact that he doesn't need to close his glove.

As promised, a video of deflections as we understand them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0kPumezi6g

What do you think?


PS It's getting cold up here!

Yes you are on the right track

After watching how many he dropped, I would advise not doing this. What happens when a hard hit comes at him with some spin?

I was making throws from right behind the camera. Very controlled (not 95 mph, minimal spin.) Austin would never do this in the game and this is more of a trick than anything else.

JDsDad - My four-year-old gamer still stays open if you drop it on the ground. I don't want my glove to close around the ball because the clock and/or runner doesn't wait for me while I'm reaching in the for the ball. Most new infielders I work with end up buying a new glove after a few sessions because they realize how important this is - to stop the ball versus catching the ball (and how their loose/creased/pancake glove doesn't let them repeat it.) And I think that's the whole point with the deflection cue - get it out of the glove!

Deflection, to me, is as the video shows so I personally wouldn't attempt in a game or teach with this phrasing. It is fun though!

It does take practice he's been doing it since he was ten. Anytime he's playing catch he works on it. He was also told to practice it while watching TV. Most of the time I don't think my son does it more than an inch or two. In the video it looks like you guys were trying to do it 3 or 4 inches.

I think of it not so much as deflecting the ball into the throwing hand, like was done in the video, where the ball would literally bank off the glove pocket toward the throwing hand.

What I see good infielders do is more have the glove "stop" the ball rather than "catch" the ball. The glove doesn't close around the ball, and the throwing hand then takes it out in one smooth motion.

Seems to me this would be a fairly simple matter to prove/disprove. Have a highly skilled infielder perform the action (turning a double play) using a pancake glove.

I think that maybe deflecting is the wrong term here.
Stopping the ball at the sametime a transferring to the throwing hand is a better term.
Just a fluid form of getting the ball into the throwing hand and positioning the body with the feet.
The throwing hand is in the glove at transfer, stopped ball bounces to throwing hand all in one fluid movement.

EH

My guy does a "drill" where he holds his glove hand up and when the ball hits the glove he would deflect it into his bare hand. He could have his glove and bare hand 3 feet apart and the ball will deflect right into his bare hand.

It was actually a drill that was taught to him by a MIF that played 11+ years in the Bigs including at least one world series.

When they first began to work together he set my son up about 25 feet away and without a glove would deflect the ball off their bare glove hand and into the throwing hand. My son has gotten very good at it and I know that there are players around the country that he has taught this to that are playing now for instance Taylor Motter at Coastal.

It is very cool to watch when he is warming up before a game. I believe it demonstrates a fairly high degree of glove control and an understanding of where the baseball is.

In game situations I am sure that he does some deflecting while turning a DP. Not to the extent that his throwing hand is outside the pocket, but he does not reach in for the ball...the ball bounces off his glove and into his close by hand and is then thrown.

I remember seeing it in action very close up a few years back. He was playing 3rd and there was a play at the plate. He was no more then 15 feet from the plate to receive a cut and the player was at least even with him when the ball arrived. It was in and out to the catcher quicker then you could believe and the out was recorded at the plate.

The next game all the infielders were trying to learn the move and practicing it during warm-ups!

Take a look at old footage from the turn of the century thru the twenty's.
Most used a form of transfer that were talking about.
Those Gloves were used to stop the ball as much as catch it.
You will always see there throwing hand right at the mitt ready for the transfer and there feet and body position moving to make the throw.
I always thought it looked like smooth and graceful fielding in motion.

EH

quote:

Originally posted by BobbyTewks:
As promised, a video of deflections as we understand them.... What do you think?

Great clip, I think you said it best, not a routine play for an infielder, off the bat.

GED10 calls it a transfer too, not a deflection. He has very strong hands, so he prefers a mitt that has a medium-to-shallow pocket.

GED10DaD