Infield Drill: 1st Base Receiving Short Hops (Baseball & Softball)
Advanced first base drill teaching how to pick short hop throws, an essential skill for turning errant throws into outs.
How to Run This Drill
- Players is on 1st base, with throwing side foot on the bag facing the coach
- Coach is in the 2nd baseman position with a bucket of baseballs
- Coach throws baseballs to the 1st baseman as short hops
- 1st baseman waits until the ball is thrown to stride towards the ball with the glove foot and pick the short hop by pushing their glove through the ball with their throwing side foot still on the bag
- 1st baseman places balls off the side and gets ready to receive another throw
- Coach throws the 1st baseman short hops until they have had 10 repetitions (players may rotate if more than one 1st baseman)
- This can also be done with the coach throwing from different positions
Coaching Points
- Read the hop early - short hop or in-between?
- Push glove through the ball - don't stab at it
- Glove foot strides toward the ball
- Keep eyes on the ball all the way into glove
- Stay down through the catch
- This skill saves errors and wins games
Quick Actions
At a Glance
Categories
Infield
Focus Areas
1st Base
Age Groups
11-1213-1415-1617-1818+9-10
Players
1-5 players
Difficulty
intermediate
Equipment Needed
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