Common Faults Are Not Commonly Worked On

Andy Ferguson: Another Day, Another Double Play

From my desk in my office at home, I can see the tee box of the 14th hole of my neighborhood golf club. Fourteen is kind of a double dogleg par 5, with trouble on both sides off the tee. The tee shot is tough, but it is a three shot hole most days so you would think more people would hit 3 wood or even a hybrid off the tee.

But no, that is not the case. I watch people hit driver all day, and I can tell by their body language that most balls are lost to the right over a fence and OB. In fact, my dog Sammy and I walk down the right side of that hole most mornings. Most days, we find at least one golf ball. There have been days where I have pocketed as many as five balls, all in pretty much the same place.

Before you check the URL at the top of your screen, yes this is a baseball blog. I like golf, and I love my dog...so what's so wrong with throwing them in my blog every now and then?

Watching golfers all day got me thinking about the most common things I see baseball players do. Anyone that has spent any time at all around golf knows that most right handed players hit some kind of a slice (left to right ball flight). It is the most common fault by far. There are other common faults, like leaving putts short of the hole, and using too much wrist action on chip shots…both of which I am guilty of.

Now, with that in mind, back to baseball. Though we primarily focus on abilities (things that players can do) when evaluating players at our events, part of our job is to also take a look at fundamentals and mechanics. Below are some of the most common fundamental shortcomings I see in players:

ALL PLAYERS
- Lack of flexibility
- Poor throwing mechanics

INFIELDERS
- Poor footwork and angles to the ball
- High rear end, straight arms, hands too deep to play the ball

OUTFIELDERS
- Lazy with feet, do not get positioned enough behind play on ball
- Poor crow hop or use of body and momentum in throws

HITTERS
- Poor weight transfer, either too much stays back or it goes forward too early
- Lack of pre-pitch movement or rhythm

PITCHERS
- Poor sequence of pitching delivery, most often hands break too late
- Poor glove side action (front shoulder, elbow and wrist)

CATCHERS
- Receiving stance too rigid, does not permit glove arm to cover all parts of strike zone
- Overly upright on throws, with excess length in arm stroke and wasted motion in exchange

I realize that most players don’t know any better, and I am certainly not pointing the finger at high school or travel team coaches. I think more than anything the culture of today’s high school baseball has contributed to this lack of solid fundamental play. More importance is placed on playing and showcasing, while we let learning and improving and player development slip. Steve Bernhardt’s Lost Art of Player Development entry has more great information on this topic.

The scary part is that this particular approach is a pretty big gamble. At some point, the game will pass every player by. For the lucky ones, that doesn’t happen until the twilight of a long Major League career. For most, it happens when the last out of your last high school game is recorded.

By taking your current skills and simply throwing them out there to play umpteen games and to put them on display at this showcase and that showcase, without any attention or effort to furthering yourself as a player, seems like less than an educated approach to me. This is not a shameless plug for Baseball Factory Player Development events, but instead a recommendation to make sure you never lose sight of the fact that you must always continue to improve. For even more information on this topic, make sure to read Rob Naddelman’s Balanced Attack series. It offers a great road map for you to follow on your journey to play college baseball.

If you are having trouble figuring out where to start in your own quest to become a better player, I suggest evaluating your own abilities first. Start by ranking your own tools from best to worst. For help, read one of my previous entries called The Most Honest Evaluation.

Andy Ferguson is currently the Senior Director of Baseball Operations with the Baseball Factory. Ferguson joined the North Carolina State baseball team as a walk-on, and went on to solidify his role on a team that participated in four consecutive NCAA Regionals. He later coached with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and then served as an Associate Scout with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres.