Drills and Skills to Prevent Drifting in the Outfield

Drills and Skills to Prevent Drifting in the Outfield

Drifting is a major issue for young outfielders on the amateur baseball level. To the casual fan, many will believe that simply catching a fly ball by any means necessary is the goal. But to coaches and players, there is more to the story than just catching the ball. If you’re a smart base-runner, you can exploit a drifting outfielder by tagging up and advance to a base, because his throw most likely won’t be a strong one.

To prevent drifting there a few crucial steps to make the catch and an accurate throw. When contact is made with the pitch and after the outfielder has seen where the ball is, he should take his first step towards the spot where the ball is projected to land. The outfielder’s task at this point is to beat the ball to the projected spot. Once the outfielder has beat the ball to the spot, he should get behind the ball. This means the ball should land in front of him if he doesn’t move forward to catch the ball. The next step is to move forward and gain momentum for a strong throw. The outfielder then catches the baseball above his head (more specifically above the bill of the baseball cap), and in the webbing of the glove. With his momentum going forward, the outfielder will have a strong throw towards the cutoff man or the base he is throwing too. 

When gaining momentum on the throw, the throw should be a strong one. The goal of the outfielder should be to throw towards the base he is at and throw through the cut off man. The outfielder should strive to have a strong throw that is on a line that would hit the cutoff man in the forehead. The reason behind this is that it ensures a strong throw to the cutoff man and the direction of the intended base. This also provides the cutoff man a strong throw that allows him to provide a strong throw as well, if he has to relay the ball to a base.

There are two drills that I will introduce today that prevent drifting. The first drill is simply called an Anti-Drift drill. The coach can hit a fly ball off of a fungo bat, or can use a pitching machine for this drill. The goal is for the outfielder to follow the steps listed above. Then the outfielder will catch the ball between his legs. For the outfielder to have success, he must be behind the baseball to catch the ball between his legs. This drill is a fun drill that can be a nice competition drill after covering the basics on how to properly catch a fly ball. 

The second drill will have several cones placed in the outfield. The cones will have different tasks for the outfielder depending on the location of the outfielder and the cones. On some cones he will have to go to his left, right, forward and backward. This covers many movements that are game-like. For the outfielder to have success, he must not drift to the baseball.  Now some more keys on catching a fly ball on the move. The key on catching the ball that has the outfielder going backwards is to have the thumb of the glove pointed downward. This makes it easier for the outfielder to catch the ball in the webbing of his glove. When it comes to catching the ball going forward, catch the ball as if it would hit you in the feet if you missed it. If those balls are misjudged, and you think you will catch them chest high, they will fly over the head of the fielder. Here is a video to the drill: https://coachesinsider.com/baseball/videos-baseball/outfielders-station-drill-brandon-buck-mountain-point-hs-az-video/ . In summation, catching a fly ball correctly is a lot of work, but with the proper fundamentals and repetitions these skills will become second nature to your student-athletes.