Fundamentals serve as the building blocks at the base of the skills pyramid. At the college level, fielding percentages are generally over 90%. Yet, the majority of drills performed in college are still strongly focused on fundamentals.  There are two reasons they are not ‘simple’ for your ballplayer to master.

First, so many coaches focus on winning at the 12U and below levels that reinforcement of poor fundamentals is pounded into them by onerous repetition in the attempt to achieve it. Poor mechanics can be overcome at lower skill levels because the game is played at slower speeds. As the pace of the game increases, time for execution drops until those mechanical issues become the difference between safe and out. These limitations don’t show up until late in the development around the elite 16U or 18U level. At this point, it is up to the college coach to decide whether the player’s raw athletic talent is sufficient to take them on as a project or not. This is not the position you want your ballplayer to be in at recruiting time. For this reason, it is essential to correct fundamental mechanics as early in the development of your ballplayer.

Second, is something called Proprioception. This is the accuracy with which a person (or a player in this case) commands their body to move in a particular way. Some people can watch a professional do an athletic movement and then copy it almost flawlessly. Others send the same command yet their body does a fairly poor job of it. We call this coordination but it really isn’t. The mirror, and now video, has allowed an entire generation or two of young athletes to overcome lower levels of proprioception and become elite athletes.

Because of the above, it is critical for players to continue practicing their fundamentals under observation or in front of a mirror even after reaching an elite level of play.