Pre Pitch Routine - Fielders

What is Pre-Pitch and why is it important?

I'm sure that we have all seen young players playing in the dirt, looking anywhere but where the ball is, and the less severe standing with legs locked when the ball is hit. Pre-pitch is the moment the team gets ready to receive the ball. Everyone gets in an athletic position with their glove in front of them and up on the balls of their feet. This requires everyone to be watching the ball(specifically the pitcher at this particular moment). They are waiting for the pitchers leg to raise and everyone steps into position. It is a beautiful thing to see everyone do a hop just as the ball is getting ready to cross the plate.

There are three general ways to do a pre-pitch: Hop, Split, and Sway. There are positional differences in pre-pitch positioning, but I will not be addressing those in this article.

Hop is simply stepping forward into an athletic position hands in front of you and then hoping to land on the balls of your feet with your glove in front of you so you can react left or right when the ball is hit.

Split is very similar to hop, but the slight difference is you step straight forward with one foot and then top from that foot splitting into an athletic position with your glove in front of you ready to receive the ball.

The last one which I have not seen used as frequently is sway. With sway you simply step into an athletic position with your glove out front and very lightly sway from the ball of one foot onto the ball of the other foot.

Pre-pitch, the essential I am ready to catch the ball step that should happen as the pitcher raises his leg to start the action!