So we have been in Florida for a week now. Rain washed out yesterday’s and today’s games. I have a few minutes to reflect over the past week. If my college team could have caught and thrown the ball well defensively, we would have been undefeated so far. As it is, we still managed to start 4-2. Most of us northern teams have this dilemma, though.

During the winter, we just do not have the facilities to throw the ball across the diamond consistently. Taking infield is a challenge in a gym. The majority of the early mistakes are throwing errors, bad hops and rushing throws, all things we are not used to indoors. When it comes down to it, it is the pressure of the situation that gets the best of our players. Either they are a bit out of position do to the size of the field and have to make a longer throw than they thought; or they get a bad hop, knock the ball down and rush a throw or get a slow roller and rush their throw, all producing poor throws.

As in hitting, it is important to hone your fielding and throwing skills in a controlled environment. Try and make things automatic so when you have to make a catch or throw, it becomes second nature. The second part of that is, try and think of every possible fielding situation inside and put your players through it, with intensity. If you are forced to only practice indoors, everyday should incorporate some form of “live” or “game situation” fielding and throwing drills. Let the players make mistakes early and get used to the pressure of having to make a catch and throw everyday.

Here is where we start:

1. Playing catch: Everyday there has to be a portion of playing catch where the players are working on getting the ball out of their glove, being quick on the transfer, getting their feet underneath them, getting the proper throwing grip, and making an accurate throw.

2. Throwing Arm Slots: After watching our infielders throw during the games this week, they throw from different arm slots all the time. Practice it. During catch, practice throwing from different angles. Same rules apply as above. Practice getting the ball out of your glove, being quick on the transfer, getting your feet underneath you, proper throwing grip, and accurate throw.

3. Dropped Ball Throwing Drill: Here is a simple yet effective drill to help infielders with dropped or knocked down balls. Have the throwers place ball on the ground by their side or in front of them during catch. Have the infielders go down and get the ball and throw to their partner. This simulates a knocked down ball and lets the players get used to going down, picking ball up and making accurate throw.

4. Ground Balls: Give your infielders plenty of repetition on these. One thing to be aware of, ensure they are reading the ground ball and picking a good hop. Getting ground balls indoors, players can become lazy because the majority of the time they are going to get a true hop. Outdoors it is not always the case. If you cannot hit an in-between hop to them with a fungo, throw them. Get them used to reading the hop and either coming in or going back to receive the ball at the proper height.