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Male: You know what Coach, I also noticed that as he follows through, he bends a little bit at the waist. Is that important?
Coach: It is very important.
Male: Should he stand straight up, erect, or should he bend at the waist?
Coach: He wants to bend at the waist. He wants to bend his back. There is another old cliché we use, reach out and touch someone. Reach out, reach out with your arm. When you throw the ball, reach out, bend your back. Get all the muscles in your body you can use to throw the ball properly.
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Male: When he releases the ball, is it coming right off his fingertips, Coach?
Coach: Yes.
Male: Is he snapping his wrist, are we snapping our wrist?
Coach: Yes, he is. His wrist is actually cocked back as he comes forward. Stop, now come forward slowly, please. Stop. Right here, his wrist is cocked back, almost like a slingshot. Now, he comes forward and he rolls the ball off his fingertips. The ball will roll right out of his fingertips. And that is a perfect backward spin, if you noticed.
Male: Very nice spin on the ball.
Coach: It is a good rotation for an infielder to have because as an infielder. You want to throw the ball as straight as possible to first base or to second base or to whatever base you are throwing. As a pitcher, it does not really matter when you have to like movement on your ball, but as an infielder, throwing someone out at first base, you really want to throw the ball as straight as possible to your first base man.
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Male: Let me ask you a question or two. In this particular drill, I know we are going step by step. Could they speed it up to where—because you do emphasize this and we will probably emphasize this as we go along—like getting that ball out of your glove quickly and getting in to that eagle position, as we referred to. Is that something we need to do as this drill goes on and on, receiving it, bringing it right up into that position?
Coach: Yes, and it will be more evident when you have your glove on. The quicker the player gets the ball out of his glove and releases the ball, the better the player is going to be. A lot of times, if you are talking about a catcher, a catcher may have a strong arm but has a tough time getting the ball out of his glove or his release is very slow, and his time throwing the ball down to second base is slow. Whereas a catcher who does not have that strong of an arm, can get the ball out of his glove quickly, and he will throw out more runners. That is the same thing for a short stopper or a third base man or a second base man. He can get the ball out of his glove and find the seams at the same time quickly. It is going to be beneficial to the player.
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Male: You know, we mentioned the window. Is the window right here or is it down here? Is there a target you want the ball to go to?
Coach: Well, we say in front of the chest. If the window is in front of your face, it will be tough for you to see. If the window is too low, it is also tough for you to move around. You want to keep your window right in front of your letters if you have a uniform on, right in front of your chest. Notice how my elbows are slightly bent. We do not want our elbows to be locked out…
Male: Why is that?
Coach: …in that case, you will not be able to move around as quickly. You want your window kind of wide, so you can see to your right or to your left. If the ball is thrown to your right hand side, your window is wide, you could step to your right and make the catch, bringing it in to your body. If the ball is thrown to your left, you can step to your left and make the catch.
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Male: Above the waist. Is it not that the rule? Thumbs above the waist when you are catching?
Coach: Right. If the ball is thrown above your waist, you are going to catch with two hands and your thumbs will be together. Here are my thumbs. If I were to catch a ball like this where my pinkies together above my waist, that could be very dangerous to a player. Also, when in throwing position, the catching position for the player would be palms up here. There is no surface area of a glove to catch the ball. It is very hard for a player to get this high if the ball is thrown near your face or a little bit above your head. It would be very hard to catch the ball like this. Now, if he were to just turn his glove over and have his thumbs together, the player can make that catch easier.
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