Charging Grounders
Infielders must learn to charge ground balls rather than wait for the ball to come to them or throwing out runners becomes much more difficult. This video features a simple baseball drill that reinforces the concept of charging ground balls.
Transcriptions:
Baseball is a game of inches. So many times the runners are just barely out or just barely safe. A lot of times when kids field ground balls, what they do is they get into the proper position, but they actually wait for the baseball. Allowing the ball to take more bounces, allowing the runner to get further down the line. Now I have to field the ball and rush it.
So, what we're gonna do is, we're gonna set up cones or you can draw two lines, either or. I'm gonna get into my position, my coach is going to roll the ball to me, I'm going to charge the ball in front of the cone or the line, and then make the throw. And what this is doing is, this is reinforcing me to actually move through the baseball. Making that close play out opposed to being safe.
Again, I'm in my fielding position, there's the ball. I approach it. I make the catch, and now I make the throw.