Too many umpires, not enough field?

aving enough field area and having enough instructors for field work has always been a problem at weekend clinics, and in my mind this one was no exception. After getting to the high school field, we spent a bit of time in the outfield as a group — getting some stretching in and working on safes and outs (including ones where runners were off the bag, swipe tags, and juggled baseballs). After we finished that group activity, we broke into two groups and started running drills.

I was amazed at how bad my footwork was — while I almost always get into the proper position on the field, at the clinic I learned to keep my chest to the baseball and to use cross-over steps and drop steps rather than backpedaling. This instruction has followed me right onto the field this spring.

Continued...