Quickening Your Throws: Catch Around the Ball

On this ball above his waist, Jeter 
positions the glove fingers above the 
ball which will allow him to catch 
on the way down to his hip.

Yesterday, I posted a tip for infielders calledQuickening your throws: Take it to the hip where I explained that taking the ball out of your glove and towards your throwing side hip sets the fielder up for a quicker release with some power as well.  Today’s post expands upon that concept and actually goes backwards to something fielders should try to do before they catch the ball.  It involves properly lining up the glove, the ball, and the throwing side hip as much as possible.

Whether a ball is thrown or hit, it is to the fielders advantage to line up the ball in between the glove and the throwing side hip.  If the throw is above the waist, the fielder gets the glove above the ball and catches it with the glove on the way down towards the hip.  If a ground ball is fielded, the glove is positioned under the ball so the glove/hands come in and up towards the hip in order to transition to throw.

Ball lined up between the glove and the 

throwing side hip

Similar to the advice given to catchers when they receive and frame pitches, fielders have to practice beating the ball to its location so they can position their glove so as to line up the ball in between the glove and the hip.  On a higher throw/batted ball, some players/coaches refer to this as “catching the top of the ball."  When this occurs, the fingers of the glove are above the ball when it is caught.  When a throw is to the glove side, the proper glove positioning allows the fielder to “catch the side of the ball.”  This allows the fielder to always have his glove moving towards his hip before he even catches the ball.Any time a fielder needs to catch and throw quickly, proper glove positioning before the catch and the direction it takes after the catch can make this process more efficient.