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Growing up playing baseball, I always loved the infield. I started out playing shortstop and then ultimately ended up playing second base. I loved fielding grounders. It was my favorite part about practice and come game time, it was always exciting to have a grounder come my way. Sometimes though, as I think everybody does, I would want to forget about the basics of picking up a ground ball. That would end up leading to an error. That’s why I’m glad there were so many fielding drills to help me remember. One of them which happens to be my favorite, doesn’t require a glove.

Two Hands

I remember thinking when I first went through this drill why I would not need my glove. Luckily, as I got older, I realized the importance of this drill when it came to fielding. A lot of times, we can get pretty confident as in fielders and forget that we need to try and stay in front of the ball and use both hands. Yes, of course there are times when the ball is hit too far to the left or right of us and we have no way of getting in front of the ball or even using both hands. I’m talking about the grounders that we should be able to do those things. By removing our glove and using our bare hands, we are required to stay in front of the ball and use both hands. This drill will help with that.

The best way to introduce this drill is to have a group of five or six players stand in a circle. One of them will start with the ball and roll the ball to somebody across from them. That person will grab the ball with both hands and then roll the ball to somebody else across from them. Keep doing that until all the players are successfully using both their hands to pick up the ball. The point of this part of the drill is to keep the ball moving quickly. As soon as the player picks up the ball with both hands, the player should immediately roll it to somebody else. After that is finished, go ahead and have the players line up in a couple of lines. When I did this drill, there was usually a line at the shortstop and second base positions with a coach to roll the grounders to each line. As one player steps up, start rolling them grounders. Make sure they are in front of the ball and fielding it with both hands. As you get through the line, start rolling the grounders to the left and right of the players. This will help them to move their feet to get in front of the ball. Continue doing this until you can see that every player has caught on to what they’re supposed to be doing. You can roll the ball a little harder every time as you need to.

Make Sure the Drill Worked

Finally, to make sure what you just did had an effect. You can have them put their gloves back on and then start hitting them grounders. Make sure they are still following the same rules when they didn’t have their gloves on. Are they Staying in front of the ball and using both hands to field the grounders? This is a great drill to practice every single day. If you can field a ball with your bare hands, you can definitely field a ball with a glove on.

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