No Fly Zone: Essential Skills & Drills for Building a Great Outfield

with Jessica Bracamonte,
University of Toledo Head Coach;
Duke University Assistant Coach from 2019 to 2022;
2021 ACC Tournament Champions;
Central Michigan University Assistant Coach from 2013 through 2019;
2017 MAC Regular Season Champions;
former Golden West College Assistant Coach;
played professionally with the Chicago Bandits (National Pro Fastpitch);
at Michigan State University, led the Big Ten in triples (4) as a senior

When the infield has a ball shoot through, the outfield is left to pick up the miss. However, when the outfield misses the ball, opposing base runners keep on running. That is why it's so important to have a great defensive outfield - because it can play a huge hand in preventing extra base hits and thus giving up fewer runs!

Jessica Bracamonte creates fully developed outfielders with the use of 11 drills with variations to enhance their speed, momentum, and knowledge of the game. In this video, she showcases those drills and gives you plenty of coaching tips to use when running them with your own team.

Drills to Build Great Outfielders

Coach Bracamonte breaks down the play of the outfield into three categories with daily drills to help players build speed awareness, angles, and confidence to make the catch. Bracamonte provides pointers and tips during each drill that will help players and coaches alike.

You will learn to create sprint awareness with drills like "Green, Yellow, and Red", Cone Drills, and "Line to Line" to allow players to feel the change in speed needed to make plays in the outfield. Coach Bracamonte uses cones to help her players understand the angles needed to be in proper position to field and throw. She also uses tennis balls to improve catching and ground ball work to help her athletes develop better concentration.

Making Elite Plays

One skill that sets apart elite outfielders from good outfielders is the ability to dive and slide to catch balls. Coach Bracamonte shares diving and sliding drills that will help your players learn to attack the ball with confidence. This includes hard-hit balls that most players would miss or never attempt to field aggressively. As a bonus, these drills have a secondary aim to help your athletes develop better communication skills.

Coach Bracamonte knows how to develop great outfielders and shares many of the drills she uses to accomplish this inside this video. She describes the importance of her drills and how to do each one properly so you can adopt them and craft your own defensive stars in the outfield!

48 minutes. 2021.