What do you call infielders with slow hands and feet? ... OUTFIELDERS!
Coaches of younger players tend to place their best athletes in middle infield positions or maybe even catcher...when they are not pitching. Why? Because they handle the ball most.
Yet many of these same players are converted to the outfield when they are older. What happened? Well there is no perfect answer but I do think alot of it has to do with a lack of quickness and the ability to get to and get rid of balls quickly.
Defense begins with the feet. A good first step, getting the legs under the fielder to be in a good position to quickly make a strong, accurate throw is so very important. In other words, not just sticking out a glove to snare everything but rather being able to take a good route to the ball so that when the ball is scooped up, the body is in a proper position to more quickly load and fire.
To educate the feet, two hands must be used.
To educate the hands, proper footwork must be learned.
Enter...the pancake glove! This tool has been used in pro ball for many years. It's design prevents catching with one hand as it has no pocket or web so the player cannot "close the glove on the ball." It forces the player to place his throwing hand so that a thrown or batted ball (grounder, liner or pop-up) can be gotten into the throwing hand and on the way to the intended target in the quickest way!
One size fits all and it is available in RH or LH models. My own son is a college ballplayer and was not born with great hands. He has carried a pancake glove in his bat bag for the past 3 seasons to tune up his hands and uses it as a reminder when he feels he may be a bit too slow in getting to and getting rid of the ball.
Bottom line...it really works!
Note that we can also package this product with our fungo bat called the Coaches War Club! Click here to check them out.