How to do the drill
- 1
Know the hops: short (right at the glove), long (catch it coming down), in-between (jumps at your chest). Avoid the in-between.
- 2
Your partner sits on a bucket 5–7 steps (10–14 feet) away. Get in your ready position.
- 3
Warm up: 5 balls caught on the third hop, then 5 on the second hop. These don't count.
- 4
Your partner bounces tennis balls at different spots. Read the first bounce, then step up for a short hop or back for a long one.
- 5
Count every clean catch on a short or long hop. Do 3 rounds of 10, switching to softballs and throwing harder each round. Log your total out of 30.
Coaching cues
- Read the first bounce.
- Step up or back early.
- Stay on the ball's line.
What good looks like
Your feet move right after the first bounce, and you catch it on a short or long hop.
Safety
Start with tennis balls and switch to softballs once the fielder is catching most balls cleanly. The partner throws only as hard as the fielder can handle. A fielder's face mask is a good idea once the balls get hard.
Why this drill
The in-between hop jumps up at the chest and face, and it is the hop most infielders duck away from on a hard grounder. Reading the first bounce and moving the feet early turns that ball into a short hop or a long hop, which are both easy to catch. Once a player trusts that, they stay in front of hard balls.
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