Movement 3: Fielding a Pop-Up off the Mound

Follow Through on the Pitch Phase
-Once you pitch the ball, your back leg needs to rotate around and plant in front of you.

Fielding Position Phase
-After you follow through on your pitch, you should be in a "Fielding Position".  Your knees should be flexed and your glove should be out and extended and ready to field the ball if its hit back towards you.


Cues: Butt down, head down, knees bent, back straight.

Reaction Phase
- Once the ball is hit in the air, your immediate first step is back.  You shift your weight back onto the right leg by bringing it back and bending at your knee. Have good balance, and a good center of gravity as you drop your weight back.   


Cues: Drop back one step.

Action Phase
- Once you react to the ball being hit,  move towards it with your glove in the air. Catch it while it's still above your body. Your knees should be flexed and your arms should be extended up in the air and adducted away from the body.  Make sure you use two hands in order to secure it and prevent an error.


Cues: Get under the ball, Catch with two hands.

Recovery phase
- Once the ball is seccurely in your glove and the out is made, make sure to look around the field to check on the base runners.  You need to quickly turn to every base just in case a runner forgot to go back to the base or if they are tagging up and trying to advance to the next base. If there is no action, return to the mound for the next pitch.

Drills

Blindside Pop Up Drill

In this drill the pitcher will be on the mound but facing center field.   The partner will be standing at home plate with the baseball.  When the person at home plate yells "Up" that means he threw the ball high into the air.  The pitcher will need to react, quickly turn around and locate the ball.  He will then need to get under it with their glove in the air and catch it cleanly.  This drill will be done 10 times  then the partners will switch.

Vocabulary List

Parallel- Located accross from eachother and in the same plane 

Balance- Ability to control the posture of the body during an unorthodox position

Center of Gravity- Point around which a body's weight is equally balanced in all directions 

Mass- Quantity of matter composing a body

Weight- Attractive force that the earth exerts on a body

Inertia- Tendency to resist change in a state of motion

Force- A push or a pull

Rotation- Circular movement of an object around a center point or axis

Flexion- Bending movement that decreases the angle between to limbs or parts

Plantar Flexion- Foward flexion of the foot at the ankle joint.

Extension- A movement of a joint which results in an increased angle between bones or body surfaces at a joint.

Pronation- Inward rotational movement of the forearm

Supination- Outward rotational movement of the forearm

Saggital Plane- Plane in which forward and back movements occur 

Frontal Plane- Plane in which latteral movements occur

Transverse Plane- Plane in which rotational movements occur

Mediolatteral Axis- Axis around which saggital plane movements occur

Anteroposterior Axis- Axis around which frontal plane movements occur

Longitudinal Axis- Axis around which transverse plane movements occur

Abduction- Movement which draws a limb away from the body

Adduction- Movement which brings a limb closer to the body

Linear- Motion along a line

Rectilinear- Motion along a straight line

Torque- The rotary effect of force

Momentum- The product of the mass and the velocity of an object