what's up baseball players coach Dan Blewett here in today's video we're going to cover
some in-field throwing technique and some fielding techniques so we're going to talk about funneling
and the importance of bringing the ball to your center when you're an infielder we've got some
slow motion overlays of video that i'll show here and we're also going to talk a little bit
about the hand mechanics and the timing of infield throwing so infield throwing mechanics are really
important and they don't have to be super complex and there's just a couple key tenants that we're
going to touch on here so without further ado let's go to the first video alright so right
here what you're going to see this is in pregame but you're going to see these guys working hard
even though it's pre-game so they're not going to be going through the motions they're going to be
going through in full speed even though this is in uh 480 frames per second so really slo-mo so
right here a let's stop it you see he traps it with his hand so this is like that dorky dad
stuff that we teach when we're uh eight years old but it's it it plays it plays at all levels
so he uses his top hand because that ball takes a weird hop he's on turf but it takes a weird hop
his hand is going to be there to help corral it and keep it in front of him
now this is the important thing so that right there is the act of funneling and this is when
he brings the ball to his center because that's his safe place that he wants to keep the ball
because now as he moves his feet then his hands can separate from the same consistent location
no matter how many shuffles he takes no matter how much time he has or how little time he has
so now you can see his feet transition and his hands start to separate right
in the act of funneling so it's very very fast obviously this is in very slow-mo
and let me go back here for a quick second so again
as you see that ball hits his glove and it's all happening at once it's he's vacuuming up
bringing it up to his middle as it's going to his middle his feet start to move so their ankle
obviously is the third baseman the ankle lands points to his target his chest is now closed
his eyes are on his target his shoulders point at his target and now he's getting in a good position
to then shuffle and make that long throw so let's go to another example here
so here's another infielder trading off so as the ball approaches you're going to see
the same thing top hand trapping it again even though your dorky dad taught you that
when you were six or seven or eight it plays at all levels it really is an important factor
and then again he vacuums it up to his center and i'll back it up in a second and that immediately
gets his whole body in a good position sideways so again throwing position here is is consistent
in all positions your back ankle and your front ankle are going to be aligned with your target
you're going to be closed which means his chest is perpendicular to the way he's throwing and then as
he starts to continue to move his feet i'll let this play here his hands are going to separate
as he goes through his footwork because again a third baseman might have a lot of time or a little
his glove arm is going to sort of swim out as his throwing arm pinches back
the hips turn first the chest opens up
and then the arm comes through so let me go back to his funneling one more time so again right here
hits his mitt and brings it to his center he's got a little more time
as it comes to the middle his feet start to move they start to get in line at the target
and now he's off to the races again he's got his hands in his center so now he can take as much
or as little time as he wants and still be in a good throwing position with his hands originating
at the center of his body so that's a really important concept bringing the ball to your middle
so now when you're here you can do anything you want just like a football quarterback you can get
rid of right away you can get rid of it right away that way you can take five shuffles if the guy is
big and fat and slow and hit a missile at you right if you have tons of time now that you got
the ball here you can shuffle shuffle shuffle and get rid of it when you're ready or like i said you
can get rid of it immediately so infield throwing mechanics they're really super important and it
starts with the footwork so all high level players whether it's college or pro they're doing what you
just saw with these two guys they're funneling the ball to their middle they're moving their
feet at the same time at full speed it's almost like bang bang it looks very smooth one motion
and as soon as they do that they're almost instantly in a good throwing position with
their chest close to their target so if they're throwing this way chest is not facing their target
ankles are getting in a line towards whatever base they're throwing to and then it's right to left
left to target and boom the throw is on its way so hopefully hopefully you enjoyed this video on
in-field throwing mechanics again really important there's just a couple quick tips about it
but again leave me a comment in the in the video description below you know what else do you want
to see what else what other concepts that i might have slow motion video of would you like to see me
talk through and explain because you know again a lot of this stuff isn't super complex but when we
break it down on slow motion it's a lot easier to see a lot easier to coach and a lot easier
to learn as players thanks again i'm coach Dan Blewett and i'll see you here in the next video
you