I often get asked by coaches, "What do I look for when evaluating infielders?" or "What makes high end infielders stand out?" My answer may surprise you. . . Great hands: Yes, that is important. Good feet: Equally as important. But those are byproducts of what I think makes high end infielders stand out. That trait is great timing. Most coaches related timing to hitting, but it is equally important as a fielder.
Our goal as an infielder is to play through the baseball without breaking momentum. The most common factors for infielders who fail are 1) Infieders who break down way too soon, collapsing on the ball and letting it play them. 2) Breaking down too late and getting the ball underneath them. This is a result from poor timing in the last two steps before fielding the ball.
The last two steps when fielding are critical. On a play where the infielder is throwing to first base, the last two steps will be RIGHT, LEFT, then FIELD. The feet come down one at a time, as a opposed to a "basketball jump stop." This is so our feet can continue throught the ball in one fluid motion in a RIGHT, LEFT, THROW.
The timing of those last two steps is critical. Too early, and the ball will play the infielder (often getting caught between hops), or too late and the ball gets underneath the fielder.
Finding timing requires a lot of practice. I do drills starting with a stationary ball, then gradually working back at a farther distance with a faster ground ball. Like hitting, you have to have success in practice, slow and close, before you can work far and fast.
In the pictures above of Jeter, you see this Right, Left step demonstrated with perfect timing. There is no one correct answer on when the athlete should break down, because all balls are at different speeds. The one way an athlete can figure this out: 1,000's of ground balls.
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