Baseball Outfielder’s Crow-Hop
One of the least understood and incorrectly executed movements is the Crow-Hop. This move used correctly by outfielders will improve the accuracy and strength of the throw. So what is a Crow-Hop? Basically, it is a movement that the player executes to provide balance and launch momentum after the catch. The catch can be on ground balls or fly balls, but the player must use Crow-Hop appropriately to give him the best chance of making good shots. Balance is the goal and the key to a good field game.
The Crow-Hop
This next sequence is done in one fluid motion. After catching the ground ball, the outfielder should push off the front knee and replace the front foot with the rear foot. The best way to do this is to get off the ground, lift your back knee first, then your front knee, and put your back foot approximately where your front foot was. When done correctly, the front / rear knee raise and front / rear foot exchange are done quickly. While lifting and replacing, the player must also rotate the torso and hips so that the shoulder of the glove is pointing toward the target. This movement is called Crow-Hop.
The Crow-Hop is a movement that places the player in the best position to throw the ball. The outfielder is creating balance, aligning his shoulders with the target and loading his throwing (rear) leg for the throw. Back leg loading (throwing side) is a term used to describe the beginning of the throwing motion. Simply put, it means that most of the player’s weight is on his back leg. Most mean more than 50 percent and less than 100 percent. Some instructors like to pin down the exact percentage, but my experience with thousands of players tells me that it is a little different for each player. Average weight distribution is approximately 80-20 leg from back to front leg.
Like most sports, including baseball, a player must move in one direction to best move in the opposite direction. Both hitters and pitchers do this too. It is a body balance and energy mechanism. Some players exaggerate crow-hop by raising their knees very high, almost like a marching band. Other players drag the back leg into a bad or “short” position, and the back leg never goes completely under the body. Neither of these methods is correct.
Proper technique is to raise the knee high enough for the player’s back leg to support the body. This creates balance and good throws. When gardeners get really good at the Crow-Hop technique, it looks fluid and flowing.
Caution: slip, cha-cha and slip
Many players, including myself in my youth, try to crow-hop without clearly swapping one foot for the other. They just slide the back foot off, leaving it before replacing the front foot (glove side). First-hand experience shows that this results in poor balance and poor throws. Once I learned to raise my knees and place my throwing leg under my body, my balance and throws were consistently good. Figure 2-6 illustrates the incorrect sliding Crow-Hop. You can see that the outfielder has not loaded his back leg, he is too stretched and unbalanced. This release is most likely bad.
A common sliding crow jump situation occurs after your rear leg has slipped below full balance. The player’s brain tells him that he is out of balance and he tries to correct it by quickly relocating his rear leg (on the throwing side). Your front leg is still in the air while your back leg is moving up and down. This makes you look like you are on a jump stick. He pumps his back leg two or three times to try to balance himself, and the whole time his momentum carries him forward, so he rarely fully balances himself.
Another incorrect variation of crow-hop is what I call Babe Ruth Cha-Cha. The baby would move up in the batting box to hit a curve ball before it curved. He did this by moving his back foot behind his forehead, then striding to hit the ball. Many slow pitch softball hitters do this too. Again, you will see that the player is unbalanced. It also moves parallel to the target, deflecting its momentum from the target. Arm strains and bad throws will surely occur. Many players use the Cha-Cha move to twist their upper body to throw. While the movement aligns the player’s shoulders with the target, it also reduces balance and momentum.
The Gliding Crow-Hop looks like a scissor kick in the air, as if a ballet dancer is fielding the ball. The player’s knees do not go up; Instead, jump up, bring both legs straight together, and then step forward with your front leg (glove side) as your throwing leg hits the ground. For most inexperienced observers, this looks pretty good. But slippage has a good chance of throwing the player off balance. Most of the time, the player’s momentum moves so fast that his rear leg is not allowed to properly load for the throw. The Gliding Crow-Hop also does not allow the gardener’s rear leg to be fully loaded. He is so unbalanced that he often falls to the ground after launch.
Hope this helps players and coaches know the right and wrong ways to use Crow-Hop in the outfield. You will be amazed at the improvement in your fielding and pitching by correctly executing this critical move. Thank you for reading!