Thoughts on shortstop

[CPhoenixM]

Cool story coming.

So a while ago I got hit in the neck by a fairly routine grounder to short that took a straight hop up about an inch in front of my glove. I had noticed all season already that the new compression balls (and have talked about it here before) were just ridiculously bouncy and really hard to predict.

However, since this incident I seem to be really gun shy. I don't really get behind the ball anymore and, even though I feel like because of how unpredictable a lot of the bounces are there's a good chance they just go off my palm or wrist anyway, I've not been stopping balls that I should be.

I'm by no means an all-star shortstop (I'm a much, much better outfielder though) -- it's still just my second year playing overall and my first year playing men's league. However, I was a lot more consistent before in stopping the ball and making at least some kind of play on it. Is it in my head? Maybe. After not getting behind a bunch of the batted balls last night, I got really frustrated with myself and started putting my body behind it again. Of course the next two hits coming my way took weird bounces right at the end and smoked me in the wrist and further frustrated me. I've never lost my cool in a game before like I did last night (threw my glove and ****.)

Ultimately I'm just trying to figure out a way to stop second guessing myself. Is it just going to take time to adjust to the way the ball bounces and prepare accordingly? The funny thing is I don't mind the ones that are hit really hard in the air at me, or even the one hoppers through the infield because I feel like they're a lot easier to read and I don't feel like there's an element out of my control when I go to make a play on them. If I **** up that catch it's on me. I routinely find myself blaming the ball though when it's a roller or a 3+ hopper and it just does weird ****.

Keep in mind too that pretty much every field we play on is gravel. I know 'get better', 'have better reflexes' etc. I like to think I have pretty decent reflexes.

I think I'll just start wearing my jock and mouthguard and put my body behind it. They don't hurt that much to get hit with (easier to say than do), but I'd still rather not get one in the face.

 

[mobrienjr]

I have seen this before with other people that play "SS", and most of it is mental. Your confidence should come back once you field a few balls cleanly and get that confidence back up. The whole point of getting your body in front of it is to stop the ball even if it takes a weird bounce. Playing scared IMO is the wrong way to play any position. You are just setting yourself up for failure due to the lack of confidence, and shying away from the ball. Just try not to get frustrated, cause that leads to bad plays also. Go back to playing for fun and just relaxing.

 

[jcoulter08]

I play ss also, and first and foremost best wear the jock, i know you may think you are worried about your face but i guarantee you are worried about a nut shot. get a mouth guard it will ease your mind a bit, also you are more than likely over thinking it. the reason you make the hard plays is because it is straight reaction, on the slower ones attack the ball going forward this forces you to react instead of wait back and think about how bad the next hop will be. hope this helps

 

[Devil Dog]

Move back to the outfield and be content with life.

 

[jrockdog]

get some more reps in during BP. You don't need to make game saving grabs but you can still see what's happening., I found that the weird bounces for me happen if the ball hits the baseline between 2nd and 3rd.

 

[Devil Dog]

found that the weird bounces for me happen if the ball hits the baseline between 2nd and 3rd.

???? ????

 

[EdFred]

???? ????

Ball hits a divot created by runners.

 

[glovinitup]

I am the same way. I ran into a fence about 3-4 years ago, 20 stitches right above my eye. Since then, I do not trust my fellow outfielders to tell me if I have room and I have been a little shy of the wall which has never happened to me before. I do not know how to shake something mentally like that.

 

[Devil Dog]

Ball hits a divot created by runners.

Created by that herd of wildebeasts, I mean runners? I've never seen such a thing. Guess some fields just never get maintained in other locales.

 

[2TransAms]

Get a face guard, maybe even one of those thin chest protectors. Who cares what other people say, it's your safety not theirs. And if it gives you confidence to stop the ball and make all your plays, you can tell them to STFU.

 

[thejuggster]

I play SS also and during warm-up before a tourney game I got a bad hop straight to the face. If it wasnt for my Oakleys I would have prob lost an eye. I came away with fracture between my eye socket and sinus cavity. I wore face mask playing IF for about a month and finally ditched it. I was "gun shy" all season prob up to a couple weeks ago when I played 3b and had one hell of a game. Guess the more grounders I played, the more my confidence came back.

 

[figuringitout]

i play all infield postions and ALWAYS wear a mouth piece and cup. we use the .52 core bouncy balls too. What i have found is that they start getting all crazy after the first bounce. seen plenty of guys take them off of the shoulder area. what i do is actually play a couple steps in. At third i play a step back from the bag. i figure i can avoid the ugly bounce and still have the reaction time to snap some off. keeps me paying close attention being that close to some batters too.

 

[MaverickAH]

Figuringitout is on the right track!

A couple of things you should do:

A) Reps
You want to work your way out of it. Get in as many practice reps as you can by having someone hit balls to you. You want to work on you footwork, timing & reflexes. It helps to shorten up your position during these drills. Tell whoever is hitting balls to not take it on you. Have them start off medium & gradually increase the speed of the balls to game +. This will help to slow everything down during a real game & you will improve.


B) Be Agressive
Your worst enemy is being tentative! It's a fact of life that sometimes you have to play on crappy fields, in bad conditions, etc...... My phiosophy has always been that the less hops i allow a ground ball to take, the less opportunity I allow for a bad hop to happen! It may take some time but you've got to will yourself to just react & be agressive! Shortening up when doing 'A' will go a long way towards accomplishing this.

 

[Captain10]

Never sit back and wait for the ball to get to you. 1. it gives that ball way more time to do something stupid and 2. give you way more time to think of what COULD happen. Once you glove a couple clean ones youll start to get back in the grove and it will become second nature again.

 

[Fox27]

Move back to the outfield and be content with life.

Haha exactly. Coming from a baseball background getting hit with bad hops is a part of the game hike your skirt up bro and get the next one or just go back to the outfield and don't worry about it anymore

 

[Crush17er]

Haha exactly. Coming from a baseball background getting hit with bad hops is a part of the game hike your skirt up bro and get the next one or just go back to the outfield and don't worry about it anymore

WOW DD Jr... Give the guy a break... lol Maybe he doesnt wear a skirt... Drink some beers before the game to relax yourself... lol Nah i play 3rd at the bag bc of stuff like this... If it takes too many hops i find my head starts to bounce with the ball throwing off my glove... Just remember the game is fun and play it that way... You play the ball dont let it play you...

 

[Tongs]

Haha exactly. Coming from a baseball background getting hit with bad hops is a part of the game hike your skirt up bro and get the next one or just go back to the outfield and don't worry about it anymore

 

[TurboLumpy]

Full goalie pad setup would do the trick.

 

[vstar1100]

Cool story coming.

So a while ago I got hit in the neck by a fairly routine grounder to short that took a straight hop up about an inch in front of my glove. I had noticed all season already that the new compression balls (and have talked about it here before) were just ridiculously bouncy and really hard to predict.

However, since this incident I seem to be really gun shy. I don't really get behind the ball anymore and, even though I feel like because of how unpredictable a lot of the bounces are there's a good chance they just go off my palm or wrist anyway, I've not been stopping balls that I should be.

I'm by no means an all-star shortstop (I'm a much, much better outfielder though) -- it's still just my second year playing overall and my first year playing men's league. However, I was a lot more consistent before in stopping the ball and making at least some kind of play on it. Is it in my head? Maybe. After not getting behind a bunch of the batted balls last night, I got really frustrated with myself and started putting my body behind it again. Of course the next two hits coming my way took weird bounces right at the end and smoked me in the wrist and further frustrated me. I've never lost my cool in a game before like I did last night (threw my glove and ****.)

Ultimately I'm just trying to figure out a way to stop second guessing myself. Is it just going to take time to adjust to the way the ball bounces and prepare accordingly? The funny thing is I don't mind the ones that are hit really hard in the air at me, or even the one hoppers through the infield because I feel like they're a lot easier to read and I don't feel like there's an element out of my control when I go to make a play on them. If I **** up that catch it's on me. I routinely find myself blaming the ball though when it's a roller or a 3+ hopper and it just does weird ****.

Keep in mind too that pretty much every field we play on is gravel. I know 'get better', 'have better reflexes' etc. I like to think I have pretty decent reflexes.

I think I'll just start wearing my jock and mouthguard and put my body behind it. They don't hurt that much to get hit with (easier to say than do), but I'd still rather not get one in the face.

just wondering where it was at cause this story sucked sb12 balls

 

[tmill958]

Had this happen last season. Slow and fast pitch I couldn't stop the ball at short. And if I did it wasn't the cleanest play. The worst was in the rare occasion I did make a play the first basemen would drop the ball on the throw. This year I'm playing for a new team and playing 3b and having a much better season. Made a few mistakes but that will always happen. I play close to the bag and find that I don't have time to think about things because the ball usually comes at me so fast its just reactions. A lot of people get the yips or whatever you want to call it..just a mental issue.

 

[2TransAms]

FTR I've seen more infielders hit in the face in the last two years with the .52 cor balls than in all the prior years combined.

 

[Devil Dog]

Not on my knees here, but Fox does possess a slight bit of bad-assery...

 

[scuderia]

Instead of waiting for the ball to come to you charge it.

 

[JESUSFREAK702]

Same as most people have said above. Get out of your head. It has a "snowball effect". You get mental on every play and tense your body. You make the clean plays when you're smooth and your hands are soft. You'll be good, just takes a good game or two to remember how it feels. After playing there a while, you'll notice that you react to even the bad bounces correctly.

 

[Fox27]

Was taught at a young age if your scared of the ball stop playing my family is old school

 

[redwards92]

jock and mouthguard will help with the head games alot. . .plus it seems the ball will take a lot less weird hops for some reason. . .

I am in my 3rd year playing SS and had the same problem for awhile but eventually you just get over it. Was playing a tourney this past weekend and someone hit the ball routine roller so i'm there staying low then last second took a bad hop straight towards my face and I somehow put my bare hand up and stopped it. . .you could see the laces on my hand for the rest of the day lol . . .

 

[CPhoenixM]

jock and mouthguard will help with the head games alot. . .plus it seems the ball will take a lot less weird hops for some reason. . .

I am in my 3rd year playing SS and had the same problem for awhile but eventually you just get over it. Was playing a tourney this past weekend and someone hit the ball routine roller so i'm there staying low then last second took a bad hop straight towards my face and I somehow put my bare hand up and stopped it. . .you could see the laces on my hand for the rest of the day lol . . .

I think I'm just going to go with the jock and mouthguard. Try and throw myself in front of the ball and get over being hit. I'm not afraid of the ball -- it just bothers me that the bounces have become a bit unpredictable. Even when I got hit in the throat it didn't really hurt that much, it was just more of a shock than anything...but it caused me to second guess every bounce.

 

[-TheHook-]

About 4 years ago I played Tourney ball with a guy that was probably one of the top 5 infielders I've ever played with. No fear, great hands, exceptional arm, could play any position on the field. In a tournament he got one of those bad hops playing third. It was a one-hopper missile that with the spin and speed of the ball it should've skipped low. He played it low and the ball went high fast! Hit a divot from a runner and it skipped upward and dropped him. Split him open pretty good too. He's better now, but at first he was really gun shy and wouldn't stay down on anything. Kept playing stuff to his side and it made him a fraction of the infielder he was before. Now he seems to have gotten over it for the most part, but I think it's still in the back of his mind. I think it takes time and good fielding to get your nuts back. One thing you could try is to pitch in a tourney... You won't worry about bad hops at SS after seeing some of the balls back at you.

 

[DeadMoney0402]

Try playing in Iraq on sand and rocks. You couldn't walk 4 inches without finding rocks the size ping pong balls. Played short since I was a kid but playing on that stuff for a year ruined me. It was like trying to field a football. It never bounced the same way twice.