2007 County Champions!!!

2008 Whitfield County Early Bird Champions

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2008 Game Schedule Now Available

Cubs Batting Leaders:Logan Hilton .532, Jackson Bell .500, Drew Guffey .486, TRey Hasty .412

Cubs Pitching Leaders: Logan Hilton 34 Innings -71 K's, Jackson Bell -29 innings 44 K's, Drew Guffey 21 Innings -37 K's,

Catching Fly balls

Catching fly balls is one of the most difficult skills for young players to master, but as they grow older, fly balls are much easier catch than grounders. The more pop-ups you throw to your child, the quicker he will begin to master the skill.

At the beginning of our 10 year old season very few fly balls have been caught in practice and none in game situations. In one of our most recent practices, I noticed one of our outfielders caught two fly balls. Each fly ball was hit in an area where he had to run to get to the ball. Last year this player could not even play catch. We have seen significant, continuous improvement in this player as the year has progressed. He is obviously getting help at home.

At a recent practice, we separated the infielders and outfielders and spent 90-minutes working with the outfielders tossing fly balls with a pitching machine. It was a very windy day and the balls were being blown all over the place. Players had to make adjustments on every toss. Even professional baseball players have trouble with fly balls in windy ball parks like Wrigley Field.

At the start of the drill, no player caught any fly balls. By the end of practice, we were catching more than we were dropping. The more opportunities your child has to catch fly balls the better he will become. When Logan was 5-6 years old and we were playing catch, I would regularly throw him fly balls and he gradually became adjusted to catching them. After a while he got bored with standing in place catching fly balls and he wanted me to throw balls that he had to run, dive, and catch. This helped him become accustomed to judging fly balls.

In catching fly balls, start working with your child by throwing them medium height (10 ft) arched throws when you are playing catch. Stand about 30-ft apart. Gradually increase the height of the throw. Before the end of the catch game, make sure you are throwing the ball 30-40ft in the air and try to make the throws accurate enough so that he does not have to move. (Make sure he is using TWO HANDS to catch the ball. If the player develops bad habits from the start, they are much more difficult to break and poor technique will limit future development.)

This may require two to three15 minute sessions to master this skill. Remember, development may seem slow to you, but one day you may look-up and they will have made a Willie Mays-type play in a game situation.

Next, work on throwing the ball to areas in which he must move to the right and left (again standing about 30-ft apart). After you feel he has made sufficient progress, widen the distance to about 50-ft and begin throwing the ball higher and further from his standing position. This phase of development may require more time, but within five to six 15 minute sessions, you should begin to notice significant improvement in his ability to judge the fly ball.

I use a pitching machine to toss fly balls to my son, since I am an "old" coach; otherwise I hurt in places I did know now I had the following day.

Now you are ready for "hit" balls and proper technique.

Ready Position

During early playing years, it is difficult to keep an outfielders mind on the game. A good habit is to have players (outfielders) stand in a position in which both glove hand and throwing hand are extended out in a "push" position. This position is suggested only because if they are in this position you know their mind is on the game and not mentally counting Yu-Gi-Oh cards or "somewhere else".

Jump

Judging where a fly ball will land is the most difficult technique to develop. It requires repetition, and development will be slow. The player should sprint (full speed) to where they "think" the ball will land. and get in the "catch ready" position. It is important that the player react at the sound of the bat. While aluminum bats are much more difficult to "read" based on the sound of impact (than the old wooden bats), the player will slowly learn to read the speed and trajectory of the hit ball.

The player should keep his eye on the ball during its' entire flight. Some player eyes "bounce" as they run, so it is important to get to a position where they think the ball will land and be ready to catch the ball.

Moving Your Feet

Foot work will depend entirely on where the ball is hit. In 9-yr-old ball it may be more important that the player moves out (toward the fence) in the direction the hit ball is traveling to prevent the ball from getting behind them. However, it may be more important that the player learn to catch fly balls, rather than playing conservatively by letting each ball hit the ground in front of the player. They will never learn to catch fly balls in using the conservative approach.

In approaching the ball, the play should use a circle or corral approach to get to the ball

The Catch Position

Ideally, the player should be underneath the downward path of the ball and as the catch is made, the fingers of the glove hand should be tilted slightly (more upright than parallel to the ground) and the catch should be made with TWO HANDS. The throwing hand should brace the glove hand at the glove thumb. The glove should be extended over and in front of the head with the fingers parallel with the ground (or slightly at an angle and the thumb pointed forward. The elbow should face outward. Get the player in the habit of should "mine" or "I got it". Once a player "claims" the ball the other fielders should assume a "back-up" role. As the ball "drifts", the player should move quickly to adjust to the path of the ball.

The Throw

When the catch is made the Glove hand foot should be slightly in front of the throwing hand foot. As the catch is made the player should step forward (simultaneously) . A crow hop should occur with the throwing hand foot crossing behind the glove foot. The throwing hand foot then becomes the launch or plant foot. Most of the player weight should be placed on the launch foot and is where much of the leverage and power comes from.

Catching Thrown Balls: Since they should not have to move far to get the ball, this should not be an issue. The glove should be positioned in front of the body with the elbow bent whenever possible. To catch a ball that is above the shoulders, the fingers will generally point skyward, with the pocket facing the path of the ball. For balls between the waist and shoulder the glove fingers should be pointed with the thumb pointed skyward, unless the ball is coming directly into the chest of the player. In this case the glove is extended out in front of the player with the fingers pointed out in the direction of the throwing arm, with the thumb pointed down. For balls below the waist the glove fingers will be pointed down. After the catch the player should quickly, turn, look, step and throw.

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