In my teens/twenties, I created a simple drill that significantly increased my hand speed and my ability to quickly get my mitt to the right place. It also improved my vision when the ball came my way at high speeds.
Although it may seem crazy, I can guarantee that this works. This has worked well for me over 50 years, and it still works today.
Grab your mitt and locate a concrete wall. Concrete is on the ground behind the wall. Start by taking a golf club and throwing it slowly against the concrete wall. Once you have it in place, grab it with the webbing on your glove.
Field grounders throw the golf ball against the wall until it hits concrete in front of the wall. Then the ball bounces back at you. Field fly balls are the first to bounce the ball off of concrete in front.
Slowly increase your speed and gradually increase how fast you are throwing the golf ball. Once you improve your skills at catching the ball, it will fly off of the wall at amazing speeds.
For many reasons, this drill is amazing:
* The ball is small and once you practice fielding such a small ball a baseball or softball looks like a large balloon coming at you and makes it easier to pick up with your eyes and mitt.
* The ball will come at you at incredible speeds and once you increase your reaction time to catch it at high speeds a baseball or softball will look like it’s in slow motion when it’s hit to you.
* Catching a golf ball at high speeds dramatically increases your hand-eye coordination and makes it much easier to catch a baseball or softball.
Try this drill out and see how quickly and efficiently it improves your skills.