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Basic Skills
Batting Technique
Catching & Fielding
Throwing Skills
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Catching & Fielding - How To Catch A Baseball
There are some fundamental rules for catching and
fielding listed below. Start with these and then practice, practice,
practice! To be a really good player, you need more practice than the
few hours a week at regular team practices. You should practice
more at home and try to make it a fun time (see
fun baseball activities).
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Start with a good glove! This should be an
all-leather glove properly sized. See gloves
for more info.
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Stand with knees slightly bent and feet apart a
little wider than shoulder position. Your hands should both be
in front of you with glove pocket facing in as if you were about to
shake hands. You need to be in a slightly crouched position so
that you can quickly move up, down, right, or left as needed to
field the ball.
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When catching a ball over the waist, the glove hand
is pointed up with the top of the pocket up. When catching a
ball below the waist, the glove hand is pointed down. Right at the
waist may require you to crouch down a bit with the glove pointed
up.
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Let the glove give a little as the ball hits it.
This will decrease the speed of the ball and lessen the chance of it
bouncing out. This takes a bit of practice.
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As the ball settles into the back of the pocket,
squeeze the glove shut! This will prevent a lot of dropped balls!
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If possible, use the non-glove hand to cover the
ball as it enters the glove. For grounders, this is essential!
Watch any MLB outfielders and you will notice that they use two
hands when fielding grounders. The extra hand is always ready to
knock the ball down if it takes a sudden wild hop.
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To field pop-ups, try to quickly judge whether you
need to take steps back or forward. Take needed steps to get under
where the ball will end up. For deep outfield hits, this is very
difficult for younger players but comes with practice. For very
young players, practice with tennis balls or padded T-balls to
minimize injury if the player misses the catch.
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