You may laugh at the title, but how many of you coaches have sat in the dugout and yelled “Throw the ball!” to your left fielder as he pump fakes the baseball like he’s Kurt Warner trying to draw the free safety away from Larry Fitzgerald. That’s right, every one of you. Typically the coach gets mad at the player and the player is mentally toast for the rest of the inning or possibly the game. Now I pose this to you- Is it the player’s fault or possibly does more blame fall on the coach for not preparing him well enough?
I think we should lean towards the latter. Granted some players are watching butterflies while other are focused on the delightful smell of hot dogs emanating from the snack shack. It’s almost a lock that the next ball hit will be headed directly at them like a heat seeking missile. For the most part I think it does fall on us as coaches. While working on fundamental grounders and fly balls is essential, I think that sometimes we should focus more on situational defense in practice.
Here is a great way to start. Work on relays and cutoffs. Have the players line up in throwing groups of 4 and spread them out about 10-20 yards apart depending on how old they are. Teach them how to turn to their glove side when receiving the ball so they can cut down on the steps they take when they go to throw it. If possible get them to turn their bodies towards their target while the ball is in mid-air so all they have to do is turn, step and throw.
Once that is done put players in defensive positions and work on only one base at a time. Put them in the 3 outfield positions and have the short stops and second baseman work on cuts to second base. After that you can progress to third base and eventually home plate. Teach them that it is of utmost importance to position the cut off man so he is in a direct line between the outfielder and the base the ball is going to. We all know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Remember it is our job to put the players in a position to succeed. We can’t catch it or throw it for them, but we can do our best to prepare them. One last thing is emphasize to the players is the importance of being in a ready position on the balls of their feet before every pitch. Hopefully that will keep the butterfly chasing to a minimum.
