The Backhand Part 1

Fielding: The Backhand  PART 1

        The backhand is one of the most under used and under practiced techniques of fielding a ground ball. Many young players are afraid of the backhand because it takes some trust and requires good footwork to pull it off successfully. There are two ways to field a backhand; open and closed. What I mean by that is the two possible positions of the hips, with the open backhand the hips are opened to the right side infield, while the closed the hips are closed off to the right side of the infield. Both are correct if used at the right time, with a backhand you have to make a quick assessment of where you are, speed of the ball, speed of the runner, and how are you going to make the throw. Here is how they play out.

        First we will talk about the open backhand, this is the ball where the player has time to set up but is not going to get around the ball. Usually this is the ground ball that was hit with some decent velocity a couple steps to the player’s right. The player can get there and set up by planting the right foot close to where the ball will be rolling and the left foot should be angled in the general direction of the target (1^st or 2^nd). When the player is moving to this position after contact he should stay low, this will help avoid his eyes moving which makes it more difficult to catch the ball. In a low position with the knees bent, butt down, eyes on the ball, and the proper glove angle set outside of the right foot the player will catch the ball adjusting to any hop that they may receive. The tendency for most players is pull the glove back and up, which takes the glove out of the way of the ball. There are times when the glove will have to move in that direction, but it is something that should not be done on every backhand. The player should either move his glove towards the ball or adjust back for an in between hop. Once the player catches the ball he has two standard options on how to throw the ball.

        -Option 1: The first option is the more standard of the two. Once the player catches the ball he will funnel it to the center (just like a routine ball) and will stay in a low position while they shuffle their feet to throw to first. It is important to stay “in the legs” when making the move to throw, this will help avoid an over throw. When a player stands up to throw the arm tends to drag because everything is now moving up and forward, this forces the ball high. The player should be able to throw the ball in the one shuffle and should follow the throw for at least 3-4 steps.

        -Option 2: If the player has a strong enough arm and depending on the speed of the ball and speed of the runner he can step and throw from the position he is already in. This is achieved by a quick transfer with the hands and pushing hard off the right leg to get as much on the throw as possible. This will be used when the ball doesn’t have a lot of velocity off the bat or the runner is moving quickly down the line. The common problem young people will have with this move is that their arm is unable to catch up with the rest of their body and the ball will sail high over the 1st baseman. To avoid that they player should focus on keeping the front shoulder down on the target and keeping a short arm action, it is better to bounce this ball on a long hop than to over throw it.

        The next entry will explain how to complete the closed backhand and throw.

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