There is debate over the position of your feet when fielding a backhand. Watch what big league players do. When they have time to set up and they are not making a play on the run, you can see a clear pattern of how they do it.
I’m uncertain as to why there is still a debate regarding how the feet should be situated when fielding a ground ball backhanded, but there is. I personally am an advocate of the right foot forward for RH and left foot forward for LH. My reasons are as follows …
1) Eight out of ten times you have taken your last step. 2) From there, you should be able to field the ball and use your right foot (RH) to either plant and throw (ie. ball in the hole, slow hit ball, fast runner or a combo) or plant and shuffle quickly in the direction towards your target and 3) Visually you have the ability to keep both eyes on the ball and forward.
Notice I stated that 8 times out of 10 we may be able to set our feet. Reason being, there are going to be times you’re going to have to field a ball in full stride, on the run and not get your feet situated for a standard backhand. In such cases, practice fielding the ball and gaining body control as fast as possible (break down your feet quickly). Or, throw it like Jeter. Unfortunately most of us can’t quite make that throw, but it is fun to try it every now and then. Also consider working on a one hop throw in these type of “on the run” situations that can improve both accuracy and timeliness.
Check out Rentaria fielding a back hand below.
3 Responses
I’ve been looking at some online tutorials, and it seems that you disagree with this video http://video.kudda.com/clinic/How_to_Field_a_Variety_of_Groundballs/Backhand_Part_1
Which way is right?
Todd, different strokes for different folks. I won’t say it is wrong, but look at the pictures in our article. A couple of things to point out. There are going to be times when you have to field the ball off of your left foot like that, but we think it should only be when you are in full stride trying to get to the ball. Why would you set up for a ball that way and have to take an extra step away from first base? Many arms aren’t strong enough to make that throw. There are a lot of other reasons, we will touch on them in later articles. If you want more info just let us know. Best of luck to you.
This gentleman is not a MiLB or MLB coach and unfortunately he is not teaching what is being taught at the professional level. Why teach anything different than what the best in the world are taught, beats me, but he’s not the only one doing it!