DD Struggling at First

[GXsDad]

Hello All,

I found this forum a few weeks ago and have learned a bunch already. Thanks!

My DD is 12, 2nd year of travel ball, tall for her team and a lefty who doesn't pitch or catch. She is being given her first shot at playing first base. She is doing pretty well at all aspects of the position except receiving throws that are in the dirt. She is horrible at any throw that lands near her feet particularly on her backhand side.

Could anyone recommend any drills that would help with this? I threw a few buckets of balls to her yesterday but it seemed like she was losing her confidence and getting worse instead of better. She had an inordinate amount of balls bounce off her glove.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[CJ D]

We're they bouncing off the side or the heel? If off the side, explain to her she is catching the ball. Glove has to be open just as it would if the ball were in the air. If off the heel, I'm betting dad was trying not to hurt her and throwing the balls easy and they were bouncing in instead of skipping in.

The way I teach my first basemen is pretty simple. Every ball to the left (right for a lefty) of a straight line from the bag foot to where the ball is coming from is a forehand. Everything to the right (left for lefty) is a backhand. Again, very similar to catching a ball in the air. On a backhand, we make the "wall" with our glove. Make sure her fingers aren't pointed to the fielder, but at the dirt. Ground up. Make sure she is stretching to the throw, not before.

As far as drills, it is basically just as you did. Put her on first, and throw balls in the dirt till you're sick of it. You just have to make sure she is using proper technique. After that, it's just practice, practice. If you're afraid she will shy away from hard thrown softballs at first, get tennis balls, sit on the ground or throw low to the ground, and hum them in there. You want to make sure they are skipping and not bouncing. You don't want her to develop a bad tendency of expecting a low thrown ball to bounce high, because generally they are usually no more than a few inches off the ground when throw from an infielder....unless it hit a long way from her.

Stress the importance of a good stretch on a low throw. The closer her glove is to the point of impact with the ground, the lower the hop, and the easier it will be to guide the ball in. Much like short hop/long hop drills with infielders. Hope some of this helps. I'm sure others will be along and give something totally different in a bit! Lol

 

[coach james]

Adding to what cjd said, when the pass is coming in on the right field side of the bag, sure to play it as a fielder would, keep the shoulders on the same line as the ball path, get low with a good stretch, and most importantly when securing a backhand is to receive the ball in front of the left foot, and never inside it. This will keep the ball, the field and the glove all in the same line of sight. If the ball is coming inside the foot after she's comitted to the stride, then the gloves orientation should rotate to palm forward.

 

[djcarter1966]

As a lefty who played first many moons ago the answer is simply practice, practice and then practice some more. If she is not sick of practicing fielding one hoppers to first you are not doing it right.

All that being said technique is important the biggest thing I always emphasize are:

Footwork -- while it seems tedious force her to start every repetition of the drill OFF the bag even if it only one step out and one step up facing home
Stretch -- as mentioned stretching too soon limits you mobility; on the flip side stretching to late means you aren't doing anything useful and tends to lead to letting the ball ball you...just like fielding a batted ball

It is not easy because leaving your glove on the ground leads to those bounces off the heel but not starting on the ground means ball scoot under. That is why you have to practice eventually she will learn how the ball bounces given the speed, trajectory, field conditions and even which teammate is throwing but the only way to do this is practicing ultimately it is a feeling/reaction as much as it is a formula of right and wrong.

 

[GXsDad]

We're they bouncing off the side or the heel? l

The heel mostly and yes I think they were bouncing a little high. I was on my knees but we were inside on turf so they were still bouncing.

We practiced again tonight out on the lawn and DD did much better. But I was taking it easy on her trying to let her get some confidence back. The tip on stretching and getting low seemed to really help. She had been staying too tall, trying to bend at the waist. DD also went back to using her outfielders glove and that might have helped. We'll have to keep experimenting with that.

Thanks for all of the replies.

 

[JAD]

We used to play a game to help improve our play at 1B. We would place an orange cone two steps to the left of 1B and one two steps to the right of 1B. We would hit grounders to 3B and SS and they had to make throws to 1B. The game was that the SS and 3B were trying to throw the ball past the 1B between the cones. If they threw it by them the SS/3B team got a point, if the 1B caught it for an out they got two points and if they kept it in front of them without making an out it was one point for the 1B team. Winning team did not have to drag the field after practice. Throws could be anywhere between the cones except over the 1B head.

 

[SB23]

We used to play a game to help improve our play at 1B. We would place an orange cone two steps to the left of 1B and one two steps to the right of 1B. We would hit grounders to 3B and SS and they had to make throws to 1B. The game was that the SS and 3B were trying to throw the ball past the 1B between the cones. If they threw it by them the SS/3B team got a point, if the 1B caught it for an out they got two points and if they kept it in front of them without making an out it was one point for the 1B team. Winning team did not have to drag the field after practice. Throws could be anywhere between the cones except over the 1B head.

Stealing this one ! thanks JAD

 

[wichita]

What we do every practice is what we call everydays. We partner up 1 on 1 and stand about 8 feet apart and one girl throws a short hop to the other girl trying to bounce the ball just in front of the glove so we don't give her a mid hop. We do 20 each in front, fore hand, and backhand. The key to this is to go get the ball with your glove don't just put your glove out and hope the ball goes into your glove rake through the ball. With the short hop in front get used to going to get the ball by getting in your fielding stance and put a ball out front of you, say about under your nose, put you glove behind the ball then push your glove out and attack the ball and catch the ball with your glove, it's not as easy as it sounds....same for back hands, you have to rake through the ball. Do this every day 20 each and she will get very good at catching balls in the dirt. After she gets better at catching short hops hit some balls to her and throw some to her she will improve in no time.
Also make sure whomever is throwing the ball makes sure there throwing the ball just in front of the glove the better the throw the better the result. My team started doing these and it took around 15 minutes for 20 each(chasing balls every where lol) now they can do it 5 minutes. Hope this helps.

 

[Eric F]

I was recently reading on a baseball forum about fielding short hops at 1B, and someone posted about pushing forward (toward the direction of the throw) with the heel of the glove, rather than with the fingers. Try to get the heel of the glove over the top of the ball, not the fingers underneath.

I haven't tried it myself, but it makes some sense in my brain.

 

[Acroyear]

I chuck absolute garbage at my 12u DD for about 15 minutes including stuff where she has to come off the bag. It's to the point where she looks at me funny when I throw something right to her.

"Nobody on my team throws this bad, Dad," she'll tell me, which is true, but it's always nice to be prepared.

Big issue for her right now is she stops too early when chasing to her sides, over-extends, and falls down. She needs to work on moving through the ball.