okay, so here's my situation. usually when fielding fround balls, the ball takes bad hops and when im eyeing the ball into my glove, at the very last second it goes a different direction or usually jus hits the corner of my glove. also, is it true that u should shift most of ur weight to the front of ur feet before each pitch?..because i usually keep both my feet flat on the ground before the pitch. advice is appreciated.

Yea I would start shifting your weight to the balls of your feet. It'll help you be quicker in reacting to the hit. Also, you can eliminate most bad hops if you get into the ball more rather than sitting back (just think play the ball - dont let it play you).

oh okay, thanks a lot. i play shortstop for my JV team. today i was just playing baseball with my friends, and i had a very bad day defensively. i'll do wat you said and see how it turns out. thanks again.

Make sure you are bending your knees and getting down low so that you can judge the hop better.

This will also help ensure that the glove is out in front of the body (rather than beneath you) so that the eyes can more easily track the ball all the way into the glove.

Start with the glove down, coming up if you need to do so. It is easier to bring the glove up than to get it back down.

Keep your feet moving as you approach the ball. Locking your feet/legs down too soon can also make fielding more difficult.

Keep an aggressive attitude.

Move to the ball. Your reaction time is quicker when you're already moving than when you are completely still. I have my players start creeping in as the pitcher winds up.

RT, you have a PM.

A lot involved in fielding bad hops is natural instinct and ability---

"Baseball requires that you act with instinct. How do you develop instict? Repetition. Repetition. Repetition." Tommy Lasorda

Watch the bounces and move to the ball to try to play the short hop. As mentioned before don't let the ball "play you", move toward the ball so it bounces right in front of you. If you allow it to bounce to far infront of you it "plays you".

How you practice bad hops ???

Each one is different

Take enough grounders, and you will get plenty of bad hops - all kinds.

Some bad hops will never be playable.

Some can be blocked.

Some can be gloved.

Don't have an easy answer for taking actual bad hops, but here is a training aid that we've used and it has helped.
reaction ball

or
reflex ball

somerville - Agreed there will always be some bad hops. You indicate that bad hops are "usually" the case.

Playing surface will certainly have an affect on the number of bad hops you will have. Find a good playing surface to practice on. It is hard to produce a good infielder on poor playing surface.

thank you for all your posts.

Hi.

Check out www.worldwidebaseballprospects.com

There is information about a product called ReactionPro that is designed specifically for practicing fielding badhops. They also have some video showing the product being used.

Bad hops can make a great fielder look bad. sometimes the hops arent seeable from the outside perspective. its really about taking enough where you can react fast enough. like someone said before me, what tommy lasorda said: repetition repetition repetition.

Try moving Thru the ball, meaning your feet are never still, creeping as the pitch is delivered, approach the ball so that its lined up with your glove side hand, from center to left of your body, stay low with the glove to the ground, and read the hops. Will hops give you trouble, of course they will. Your throwing hand should be moving over the top of your glove as you move thru the ball. (think gator) and that throwing hand can keep many bad hops from getting away from you. Then repetition and you can only improve.

Coachric - I, like you, taught "through the ball" and "gator hands" for years. I have seen injured hands (jamed and/or broken finger) as well as players that over run the ball making fielding errors. I watch pros and see the open book (thumbs out) methods of receiving the ball, tried it and believe it to be more natural and less risk of injury.

After watching High Percentage Infield Play and The Double Play & Special Infield Skillsby Mark Johnson I have worked on this with my son and truely believe it is a better way. Another thing I learned from his videos that I believe to be a better way is to briefly stop (on routine rounders) to field the ball instead of moving forward through the ball.

Going through the ball, if interpreted as feet moving forward, can cause a player to over run the ball. On a routine ball, a player positions himself low, positioned to take the ball out front and prepared to take away a bad hop by moving his glove up and out toward the ball (like a pick) then moving through (right foot shuffle toward left during transfer) toward the throwing target.

Im always looking for better ways to teach and for now this really seems to be an improvement from what me son had previously been doing.

I'm always open to new ideas and a student of the game....

I believe it was Texan who initially mentioned it, but I would like to restate it again as I believe this is a significant key to playing the infield. You need to play lower to the ground. Bend those knees, lower than you probably ever thought you could.(you probably need to work on streatching your groin area to allow you to play as low as you should) Move to the ball low to the ground, do not stand up to move to a ball then try to go back down. Stay low throughout. I was watching A-Rod at a game recently and was amazed at how low to the ground he is as the pitch is thrown. His chest was no more than 24" off the ground. It is always easier to come up on a bad hop. If you are lower to the ground you will position yourself to do just that.

It's good to see people talking about defense. It is my belief that with steroids on the way out (I hope) the game will come into balance and the defensive aspect of the game will assume it's place along side pitching and offense.

Now to badhops. Here's a thought to think about. When badhops are discussed in baseball the normal train of thought is to visualize a batted ball bouncing in the infield. If you thnk about it, "any" ball that bounces, be it hit or thrown, can take a badhop. Talk to guys at 1st picking a low throw. They've seen some weird bounces. And middle infilders taking a throw to 2nd from the catcher that bounces first. Strange bounces happen there as well. Same at 3rd and also at home for a play at the plate. It also happens when balls bounce in front of outfielders. So the point is that there are in fact many different circumstances where badhops occur but the same approach, footwork, charging the ball etc won't work for all situations. The key to success is to practice fielding unpredictable bounces as they apply to each specific situation and developing skill sets as they apply to these specific applications.