Outfielders get good jump shots through footwork

The amazing catches of the outfielders are really fun to watch. The highlights of the nightly sports shows are filled with outfielders and their spectacular plays. Most of the time, the catches made by outfielders defy logic. People say, “How did he make that catch?” “That seemed like a surefire triple, didn’t it?” “That guy was nowhere near that ball, he seemed to have come out of nowhere.”

So how is it done? Almost all great field catches are made with a big jump, reading the ball and taking perfect angles to get to the catch. And while great outfielders are also very good athletes, athletic prowess alone doesn’t make them great outfielders. Effectively working on your jumps, reads, and angles makes catches possible, nothing more, nothing less.

360 degree footwork

An outfielder has 360 degrees of area to cover. When the outfielder starts from an athletic ready position, he is facing home plate. So, he is looking in one direction: forward. Assuming he can run forward to easily cover 30 degrees of field, that leaves 330 degrees of possible field to cover what he’s not looking at. That’s a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of different directions. To get a good jump, he must move as efficiently as possible towards the ball. The outfielder must quickly change direction at the start. To do this, he must use footwork.

crossing vs. jab-step

The steps outlined in this section are for balls hit in front of or directly to the side of the fielder. We will discuss proper footwork for balls hit from behind or over the outfielder’s head later. For a long time in my college career, and all through high school, I used the jab step. And it was wrong.

The jab step is what it sounds like. If the ball is hit to the outfielder’s right, he moves his right foot first, a jab step that only covers about half a step. And when he wants to go left, he hits the steps with his left foot first, again only mid-stride. The player’s upper body is not yet fully turned towards their target. This will not allow you to get to the ball as quickly. On the contrary, the cross step is more efficient. Why? Because you can cover more ground with virtually the same time and effort.

Let’s use the same example: ball hit to the player’s right. In the crossover step, the outfielder crosses his left foot in front of his right foot and walks normally. At least an additional half step is gained when covering ground. To quickly use the crossover step, your upper body must also rotate. The only way, and the best way, to accomplish this quickly is to use your arms, specifically your elbows. When used correctly, the arms and elbows will rotate the torso toward the capture target and help clear the hips. As in golf, removing the hip so the body can fully rotate is vitally important.

When the hip is clear and the shoulders are facing in the desired direction, it is much easier to move the left foot past the right foot in our example. The outfielder pulls his right elbow back and pushes his bent left arm across his body to rotate his shoulders and clear his right hip. His left foot easily moves ahead and ahead of his right foot. This is the classic cross step.

An important point to remember is that the outfielder’s elbows are used to rotate the torso. His arms are not straight. Why? Well, back to physics again: with the arms bent, it takes less time to move the arms into the proper spin position. Think of it this way: When ice skaters want to spin slowly into a turn, they keep their arms straight and away from their bodies. Then, when they want to turn faster, they bring their arms closer to the body. The same principle applies to gardeners.

In these examples, the player always moves to his right. The same principles will apply if he has to go to the left of him. Her left elbow is pushed back behind him at the same time her bent right arm hits his body. This turns his shoulders to the left and clears his left hip. His right foot crosses over his left foot and he goes on the run.

It is vital that the player turns their upper body and hips in the direction they want to go. Without violent use of the elbows, in any direction, the upper body would remain stationary and would not be able to use the crossover step properly. Crossover steps are the best use of an outfielder’s limited time when moving into baseball. And they should always be used when the direction he needs to go is directly to the right or to the left, or any degree of that in front of him.

drop steps

But that leaves another 180 degrees of the outfield to cover. The other half of the outfield cover is behind the outfielder. And the correct footwork will play a huge role here as well. Drop steps are used to quickly get the outfielder in the right direction, somewhere behind him. In the drop step, footwork and upper body movements are crucial. As much as pitchers don’t like to admit it, some batted balls are actually hit over an outfielder’s head.

We’ll use an example of a center fielder. The ball is glued very well and to his left. He has no chance of catching this ball, but he is determined to cut it off before it hits the wall. If the outfielder uses the crossover step, he will not be able to cut the ball. This is because his right foot can’t cross over and get behind his left foot enough to start at the right angle to the ball. Therefore, he must use the fall step. His left foot turns behind his body. Essentially, he’s opening up his path by expanding the distance between his feet, and his left foot moves behind him. When his left foot touches the ground, he points in the direction he will run.

It is vitally important that the player does not lock the drop foot in the desired direction. Closing the foot stops the process of turning the hip and prevents the player’s body from opening completely. At about the same time as he drops the steps with his left foot back, he should push his left elbow behind him while striking his bent right arm in front of him. Again, clearing your left hip is very important here.

This two-segment process (stepping to the left as the arms rotate the torso) positions the outfielder’s upper body in the direction they want to run. By dropping his left foot behind his body, the outfielder is creating an angle of attack to go after the ball. The further back the outfielder needs to run, the deeper his drop step must be and the more violently he must use his elbows to twist his torso. Thank you for reading!