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Rickey Henderson's leftfield tips Posted July 25, 2000
We asked Seattle
Mariners Left fielder Rickey Henderson, a 10-time All-Star, 1990 AL MVP, 1989
ALCS MVP, 1981 Gold Glove award winner and three time Silver Slugger to give you
some tips on becoming a better left fielder.
What is the proper
technique for catching a pop-fly? Rickey Henderson:
I think the biggest technique is basically, get your body under the ball and
really try to catch the ball with two hands. (Position yourself) behind the ball
as the ball comes down. When a ball is hit into
the leftfield gap, how do you decide which player will catch the ball?
Henderson:
(It depends on) which player gets there first, and the trail player is supposed
to let him know where to throw the ball. With the ball in the gap, both players
go to the ball and whichever (player) the ball is closer to, that's the one who
covers the ball. Is there a special
technique to getting a good jump on the ball? Henderson:
Reading the pitches, trying to figure out how your players are positioned to the
hitter, and then trying to read the ball off the bat. Just paying attention to
the hitter. Before the game they tell you which way the hitters (tend to hit)
the ball -- in the gap or if he's a pull hitter. So you line yourself up to that
position. How do you field fly
balls near the warning track and the outfield fence?
Henderson:
I think you've got to prepare yourself, but the warning track is usually the
dirt part of the field, and once you get off the grass and you feel the dirt
that's when you know you've got about two or three steps before you get to the
wall. How do you know when to
throw home, and when to throw to the cutoff guy?
Henderson:
The basic thing is throwing to the cutoff man, but you're really trying to throw
through the cutoff man. You're throwing to the cutoff man, just in
case he wants to cut the ball. |
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