How To Turn A Double Play - Sidearm Feed

Hey, what's going on everyone? We're here in our new Antonelli Baseball Facility and today we're talking about double play turns from the shortstop position. In our last video we talked about underhand feeds, that's the first way to do it. In this video we're going to talk about sidearm feeds to our second baseman. Now this technique will work for both baseball players and softball players, so it doesn't matter the sport that you are playing, the mechanics stay the same. So let's talk about when we're going to use a sidearm feed to our second baseman on a double play turn. This is going to happen on any balls that are hit to our right that are taking us away from the second baseman. Couple of keys to think about here. The first thing is I want to get the ball off the ground as quickly as possible. And so I don't want to sit back, I want to take the sharpest angle possible that I can field the ball cleanly, but again get it off the ground quickly because if I don't take a good angle for every step that I go this way I'm getting further away from my target but also the runner is running. So I want to get the ball off the ground as quickly as possible. Now once I attack the ball to field it, the fielding mechanics are slightly different on this ball than we teach in our normal fielding mechanics. So this is the one ball that when I sit up to field this ball I can field this ball slightly more to my right side. So we always teach fielding the ball over our left eye. But this is the one ball that when I field this ball I actually field this ball slightly more to my right because I'm going to take this ball and I'm going to quickly just bring it right to my right armpit to throw. And I also am not getting momentum towards my target. So I'm not fielding this and shuffling and throwing, that's one mistake I see often. All we're going to do is field the ball and throw. And so I want to sneak the ball just a little bit more towards my right side when I field it. And my feet are going to stay planted, again I'm not going to shuffle towards my target. Now as I begin to lower myself in the fielding position there's a few different ways that you can do this. So one way that you can do this is that you can field the ball and you can drop your left foot back. So you'll field the ball, you'll drop your left foot back, and you'll feed the ball to your partner. Another way that you can do this is that you can preset your left foot back. So as you start to get down the field you can open up your left foot early before you field it. So now all you do is you field the ball, you bring it here, and you feed it. The last way that you can do it, some players will set their right knee down to the ground. And so they'll come over to field the ball and once they know they're in position they'll start to set this right knee down on the ground. So all it is is a field and they're already in position to throw. So those are three different ways that you can do it. I would try each way, see which way you find most comfortable for you. Now once we're in position to field, I talked about this quickly, but I want to bring this ball right to my armpit. I want to keep my throwing action as short and quick as possible. So I don't want to take the ball out here, that takes too long. I don't want to take the ball out here because now I've got a long arm action. So I'm going to bring the ball right to my right armpit. I'm going to get into this strong tight V position right here. And it's quickly going to be thrown. So you can work on shortening your arm action as much as possible. On these plays we're not throwing the ball very far. So we want to be quick and accurate. We don't need to throw this ball extremely hard and so I don't need a big long arm action. So again all it's going to be is quickly bring the ball here, take the ball out, and throw the ball to your partner. Now the other thing we talk about with this is throwing the ball uphill. And you'll notice if you do a good job of staying low, you'll throw the ball uphill. We throw the ball uphill because it's much easier for your partner to turn a double play when the ball is up above their waist. If I'm going to miss, I want to miss high on this double play feed. I don't want to miss low. So if I'm aiming for the chest, this is a really easy turn for my second baseman. If I miss high, this is still a really easy turn. Where it gets difficult for the second baseman is on the low throws because we get to a point where we have to try to flip our glove over to catch the ball. And these aren't very long throws. And so it can become difficult when a second baseman is waiting for a toss here and now all of a sudden the ball is thrown here and I've got to turn my glove, catch the ball here and turn the double play there. Much more difficult. So I always want to miss high if I'm going to miss. And we talk about throwing uphill because the chances of you missing high when you throw uphill are much more increased. The mistake I see is players will field the ball, they'll stand up, they'll throw from a high arm slot, and if they miss, they're going to miss down. And so we want to stay low, as low as possible, and we want to throw uphill from a lower arm slot position. We don't want to throw these balls from an arm slot that's up over the top. So I want to be lower. I want to feel my torso tilted towards my right leg. So when I field this ball, I tilt my torso, I stay in my legs, and I throw the ball short, quick, low arm slot, uphill. So those are the keys for turning a double play on balls hit to your right, staying low, fielding the ball, throwing uphill, short arm action, will really improve your chances of completing the double play. So let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel if you've not done so already. Give it a thumbs up. Share the video with all your friends, all that good stuff, and we'll talk to you later. What do you need to be a great infielder? Okay, let's talk about the mental game because this is such an important part of fielding, and a lot of people don't talk about this. If a hitter hits the ball 90 plus miles an hour, the ball's going to travel about 90 feet in a half a second. When I catch when my left foot lands, I get to the right, I brace, I go. So I'm going to bring the ball here as my right foot starts to go to my left. When I take the ball out of my glove, my fingers should be on top of the ball. I don't take it out like this. I'm on top of the ball right here. But it's not just about fielding the ball again. It's about fielding the ball properly every single time. If you're just going to wait for your team to practice, you're not going to be a very good fielder. If you're just going to wait to field at practice when your coach actually does fielding practice, you're not going to be a very good fielder. If you think you're going to get great fielding three to five balls in an infield-outfield, you're crazy. You've got to field a lot, and so you've got to field before practice. You've got to field after practice. You've got to be able to do it on your own. Don't just wait for somebody to say let's go practice infield go grab somebody and say let's practice infield