4 Tips for Infielders Struggling with Groundballs

Infielders of all skill levels can struggle fielding groundballs. Sometimes the poor quality of the infield is to blame, but usually its something simple that the fielders is doing wrong that causes the first few misses and then everything snowballs. The solutions for correcting this problem arent as hard as you might think, but make sure you know them.

First, lets review some basics for fielding ground balls!

1. A player must use her KNEES to lower herself to the ground and NOT her waist.
2. A player must keep her hands (including her glove) in front of (forward of) her head to allow her eyes to see both the glove and the ball (at the same time) without having to take her eyes quickly off the ball in order to see the ball into her glove.
3. She needs to work on fielding the bottom of the ball.

Try the following drills to help infielders practice these 3 key fundamentals:

1. Barehand Zip Balls:
   • Have the fielder get about 8-10 feet from you, without her glove on, and slowly roll simple groundballs to her
   • Have her field the Zip Ball in her bare glove-hand using her fingers to field the bottom of the ball
   • Be sure she uses her knees to lower herself to the ground
   • Take your time in this drill as players like to rush. Go slow and really feel your fingers fielding the bottom of the Zip Ball
2. Counting Bounces:
   • Have your player put her glove on and move back about 30-40 feet
   • Now slowly hit groundballs to her
   • She must count -OUTLOAD  each time the ball bounces on its way to her
   • This sounds easy but will take her a few tries
   • Even if she isnt saying the numbers really loud, just the act of concentrating that hard on seeing the number of bounces will make her use her eyes better and will help her improve her fielding skills
3. Call the Ball:
   • This drill involves the player putting her glove on and getting about 40-50 feet away from you
   • You will hit her groundballs (not too hard at first) and she will look to see which part of the ball you hit  either Top, Middle, or Bottom  and call it OUT LOAD after you hit it
   • At first, shell say it after shes fielded it, thats normal. It will take your players a while to get to the point where they can call it out as soon as you hit it. But, even if their verbal response is slow theyre still focusing on watching you hit the ball and seeing which part of the ball you hit
   • This helps your players start to predict how the ball will come to them based on what part of the ball was hit:
     • Top – means ball will go down
     • Middle – means ball will be hit harder
     • Bottom – means ball will be hit up
   • Belly Pops:
     • I also suggest using the following fielding eDrill that will also help her Belly Pops.
     • Not only is this drill good for quick reactions and glove work, its also a great upper body conditioner and its fun!

For more information and training aids on this topic check out:

• Zip Balls
• 50 Infield Drills Manual
• Team Drills Manual
• Fielding eDrills