Drills and Techniques to Overcome the Fear of a Bad Hop

Photo Credit: www.incirlik.af.mil

        One of the worst problems to have as an infielder is being afraid of the ball, or more specifically the bad hop. Every infielder goes through this phase at some point in their career, whether it’s when they’re in little league, high school, college, and sometimes even in pro ball. Yes, you can even see fear in the guys who get paid to play the game. Usually this fear comes from the devastating experience of getting hit by the ball due to a bad hop. It happens to everyone at some point or another, the ball takes that funny hop off a rock or catches the seam just right on the clay and jumps up and hits the fielder in the face. Since everyone has this problem at some point, the real question is how do you fix it? Here’s how I have tackled this issue in the past.

        I’ve been hit in the face a few times in my career, twice that really stuck with me. Both times it happened during practice, the ball took a funny bounce off the lip and jumped over my glove hitting me square in the mouth. Obviously you first deal with the issue at hand which is making sure that the fielder is ok, but after the fielder is physically ready to return it’s important that they get “back on the horse” as quickly as possible. Getting back on the field and taking ground balls is important for the psychological well-being of the fielder. The longer they have to think about the play the more likely that they will be afraid of it happening again. They need to realize that a high majority of ground balls will take the expected hop, and that hops like the one that scared them are extremely rare.  Once the player realizes this it will drastically help them be a better fielder.

Photo Credit: www.TampaBay.com

        For those that have not been hit before and just have a natural fear of the ball a good drill for them is to take their lower half out of the equation. The first thing players who are afraid of the ball do is to field the ball off to one side, by placing the player on their knees it doesn’t allow them to move away from the ball. There is a progression to this drill that will help the player become more comfortable. First have the player on their knees and the coach about 10 feet away, the coach will throw the ball to the player giving them a short hop. The coach should progressively throw the ball harder and consistently throw it directly at the player so they get use to fielding a ball in front of them. The player should be in an athletic position while on their knees, meaning not straight up and not sitting on their heels, somewhere in between. After the player has fielded about 30-40 of those, the coach should then back up to about 25-30 feet away and hit ground balls with a fungo to the fielder, while they are still on their knees. The player will then be forced to stay in front of the ball and trust their hands to catch it, again starting with slower grounders and building up to hard hit balls. This is great for players who are afraid because it forces them to be down closer to the ball.

        Another drill that I use often with my fielders is the step up drill. This is drill that I described in a previous post, the drill is simple. Start the infielder about 50 feet away and hit them ground balls, the grounders should be hit with some intensity. After each catch the fielder will take one step forward. This continues until the player is within 10 feet. This is a great drill to turn into a game, players get “knocked out” by missing a ball, last player standing wins.

        Many players don’t realize that they are afraid of the ball. I’ve dealt with several occasions where the player is thought to be a good player and just struggles fielding. They think that they are getting in good position when really they are in a position that hinders them from catching the ball. Often the position will have the player’s arms extended (locked elbows) and chin up too high. These players will find themselves getting handcuffed on in between hops, and having balls that stay down roll underneath their glove.  Fixing this takes time, requiring the above drills on a daily basis for months, but there is a quick fix. The quick fix for this problem and something that helps many young players (especially SS’s) is to attack almost everything. When a player is afraid of a bad hop the best thing they can do is attack the baseball. There are balls that are hit hard that they won’t be able to come and get, but the majority of ground balls the fielder will field with one hand out in front of them off to the side like an outfielder. I know that based on the drills I mentioned earlier this seems counterproductive; here is why it is not. When an infielder charges a grounder, it forces them to get low in order to catch it. It also forces them to be aggressive keeping them from being on their heels. So while the technique doesn’t necessarily look like it helps the fielder with the ground ball, it actually changes their thought process. If you watch multiple MLB games, you will find that many infielders (especially SS’s) attack any baseball that will take more than 2 hops. Most hard hit ground balls have back spin and will only take 2 hops or less, if the ball is going to take a 3^rd hop before it gets to the fielder it wasn’t hit that hard. This is not an “absolute” rule, but it’s a guideline that can help fielders determine when they can stay back.

        One of the shortstops that I coached a few years ago was very good at attacking the baseball. He was initially hesitant to change the way he fielded the ball because he was a very hard worker and thought that his technique was very good. The problem he had was the locked elbows and high chin, he often found himself getting handcuffed on balls that he should catch. We decided to do the quick fix and make him attack everything, during the first few weeks of spring practice he struggled getting the first step going in the right direction. After a few weeks of forcing the issue it began to be 2^nd nature for him. After the season we looked at his fielding percentage (.975) and realized that the errors he did make were primarily throwing errors. He only had one error on balls that he charged.

        Getting over fear of the ball is about commitment. Without the commitment of the player to first realize they are afraid, then want to make the change it won’t happen. Players should do the drills listed above and always remember to be the aggressor when it comes to fielding ground balls.  If the fielder is aggressive then they will find themselves in a better fielding position the majority of the time. I also recommend for younger players to start these drills with tennis balls, it helps eliminate their fear of being hurt by the ball and you can throw and hit the ball hard at them without them being afraid. They then learn how to catch these balls and when it comes time for the baseball to be hit at them they know how to catch it. 

Try these drills and let me know how they work for you. Subscribe to the blog and check out www.RobinsonAthleticsFL.com to see what Robinson Athletics offers.