Teaching Moment: Outfield Drills

Today I am hoping to do a Triple Feature! It will include one pitcher, one hitter, and this teaching moment. This first posting is some helpful outfield drills. It is hard for me to record an individual fielder, but I hope these drills help you understand what to look for when assessing the ability of an outfielder. I would like to thank Sacred Heart’s John Murphy and Eckerd College’s Ted Regan for allowing me to film these drills. My favorite part of these drills is: all they need is a partner and you can do them in your backyard or anywhere you have about 20-30 yards of grass (except shagging).

Drill One
Don’t Step In The Bucket
The most important thing about this drill is not to step straight back or backpedal. If you have developed the habit of stepping straight back or backpedaling, simply put a bucket behind you! The idea is to turn your head and sprint to the spot of the baseball. Ideally, you want to catch the ball over your throwing shoulder. Make sure to work using both shoulder.

Drill Two
Going Straight Back
The hardest ball to read in the outfield is the ball straight at you. In fact, any baseball hit over your head is difficult to get a true read on. Rather than backpedal, the outfielder needs to turn to their glove side, “create some depth” in other words the outfielder needs to make sure the ball is not traveling directly over their head, and then sprint to the spot of the ball. In this drill, you throw the ball directly over the fielder’s head. The fielder wants to avoid drifting to the baseball. Ideally, a fielder will have his shoulders facing the infield while making the catch.

Drill Three
Shuttle Drill
This drill prepares the fielder for a line drive with a lot of spin. Sometimes the outfielder will be running in one direction and the spin off the bat causes the outfielder to change their route. In the drill, the outfielder starts running in one direction and is forced to change direction on the drop of a dime. It is imperative that the fielder turns his head and not his entire body. Initially, this can feel very unnatural, but through hard work this can become easy. Be sure to find the baseball after making the turn, and work on turning both ways when doing the drill.

Drill Four
Shagging
This requires more room than the other three drills. Be sure to implement all of the fundamentals worked on in the previous drills. See the ball off of the bat, sprint to the spot where you think the ball is going to land, and always make an attempt to catch the ball over your throwing shoulder.