How to Field Ground Balls in Baseball

Part of the Video Series Baseball for Beginners

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Don't let those worm burners get past you. Learn how to field a ground ball in a baseball game or in practice, in this free baseball training video.

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How to Field Ground Balls in Baseball
All right, we are going to talk about ground ball technique now and catching a ground ball is pretty simple. The more practice you put into it, the better you are going to get. It is as simple as that. So what is going to happen, I am going to have a ball roll to me and we start out just like this. On the pitch if the pitcher is throwing it, you are anticipating every time. Right now I am playing as a short stop but it goes for any position. You get down, the pitch is made, you scoot up slightly and now you are ready. Your knees are bent and you are on the balls of your feet, on the top half of your feet and you can move in any direction quick; whether it be to your left, to your right, straight back to your left and straight back to your right. You are in a position to move quickly in any direction, so I am going to have a ground ball roll to me. When I get it, I am going to round the ball and round the ball baiscally means you are kind of coming over at an angle. You are going to catch it off the inside of your left foot to have your momentum moving toward your throw, moving toward first base. So when somebody says they need you to round the ball, that mean is if the ball is hit right at yhou really hard, you don't have time to do anything; just catch it and make control. The slower it is hit the more time you have to run up and charge it. You want to cut down the time that ball spends on the ground because the more time that ball spends on the ground, the more time that runner has to get to first base. So medium ground ball, rounding it, you start out taking a step to your right, back to your left , feel it off the inside part of your foot and you can either do a step behind here or you round it and catch it off the inside of your foot and you step in front. It doesn't really matter; whatever makes you more comfotable. So we'll have a ground ball. Ready, in front of you , round it just off the inside part, step behind, make it to first. One more time; I'm down, I'm ready, round it, get in front, feel it off the inside part and make throw to first base.

About the Expert

Expert: Ben Graham was an outstanding high school and collegiate baseball player where he won all-conference honors. Read More