by Don Marsh

This may not be much of a surprise to you, since I bet everyone from your parents to your teacher to your baseball coach tells you this all the time: The way to get better at something is to practice it. A lot.

But practicing things in baseball might be a little different from practicing other things, like doing your homework. For one, you get to do it outdoors. For another, with baseball, practicing just one thing and one thing only helps you remember the rest of what you need to know.

Take fielding a ground ball, for example. We’ve already discussed the way to set up to field a grounder (remember how to form your “Triangle”? See photo above, with the player’s feet and hands forming the triangle), but sometimes, as you may have found out already, even when you do that, the ball has a way of getting under your glove.

But not if you practice getting your glove lower than the ball. The reason keeping your glove lower than the ball as it approaches is a good thing to remember, is that there’s always going to be a natural tendency to raise your hands when it comes near. If your glove is at the same level with the ball, chances are pretty good that when you do raise your hands in that natural reflex motion, the ball’s going to keep on going underneath. Almost every time you see a big leaguer make an error on a ground ball in front of them it’s because he didn’t keep his hands low enough as the ball was bouncing toward him.

Another good reason to practice something as simple as keeping your glove lower than the ball is that, when you’re really out there playing the infield, repeating it to yourself will be a great way to also remember the other things you’ve already learned.

Remembering your ‘Triangle’ and everything else we’ve talked about prepares you for the ground ball as it comes, but keeping your glove lower than the ball helps make sure you catch it when it does.

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