OC Register: Here’s how Ron Washington expects to improve the Angels’ infield

[AngelsWin.com]

TEMPE, Ariz. — Ehire Adrianza was a 30-year-old who had played professional baseball for more than 14 years, including parts of eight years in the majors, when he first worked with Ron Washington with the Atlanta Braves in 2021.

It was then that Washington had Adrianza do something he’d never done: He put Adrianza on his knees and had him field baseballs on a hop, one after the other in quick succession.

“It felt weird, to be honest,” said Adrianza, now a non-roster invitee in Angels camp. “It was the first time I had done it. Now, I can’t go out to the field without doing my drills. If I don’t do it, I feel kind of naked.”

Washington proudly refers to himself as baseball’s best infield instructor, and the defining image of the Angels’ first-year manager’s work is a series of drills that he created more than three decades ago.

The “Washington Drills” – he hasn’t come up with a better name for them – are unmistakably his.

“It’s my idea,” Washington said with a smile. “Let’s get that out of the way first.”

Although they’ve been refined over the years, the drills involve a four-minute sequence that starts with the player on his knees. A coach – Washington himself or else infield coach Ryan Goins – first tosses a ball underhand to the player. They do balls right in front, then on the glove side, then on the backhand side. It progresses to using a fungo bat.

The idea is to isolate the most important part of fielding a ground ball.

“The only thing the infielder should be concerned with is the last hop,” Washington said. “The last hop is what he catches.”

The player then gets on his feet and does the same thing, but with a “pancake” glove. The flat padded glove doesn’t have fingers and doesn’t close, which forces the player to use his hands with precision in order to keep control of the ball.

Eventually, the player fields balls with his regular glove.

At no point is the player asked to move his feet more than a step or throw, which is a part of the point.

“In four minutes, you can get 97 ground balls and you’re not sweating,” Washington said. “You’re not breathing hard. But you took 97. If I go out there and hit you 97 ground balls in four minutes, see if you sweat or get exhausted. If you say you’re going to take 100 ground balls, 25 of them were probably proper. The other 75 were all kinds of ways. You weren’t in the proper technique. You weren’t doing things right. The way I do it, every time you pick up a ground ball, you are doing it correct. You are doing it correct.”

Washington wants players to catch the ball in the exact same way every time, just in the middle of the glove, where the palm meets the pocket. Too much in the palm and the ball can bounce away. Too much in the pocket and the fielder can’t feel it, or he has to search to get his hand on it to throw.

Also, having perfect hand position means that when the ball isn’t caught, it will drop right in front of him instead of bouncing away.

Angels veteran infielder Brandon Drury said he had done a version of those drills occasionally at other stops in his big-league journey, but never with the everyday frequency he’s done it under Washington.

“I always felt like I had good hands, but since I’ve been here I do notice some improvement with certain plays,” Drury said. “I’m looking forward to getting better.”

Shortstop Zach Neto, a 23-year-old who was drafted in 2022, said he had never done drills on his knees that way.

“It helps to make sure I’m catching the ball in the part of the glove I want to catch it,” Neto said. “It’s helped me out big time.”

First baseman Freddie Freeman started doing the drills when he was with the Braves, and he still does them every day with the Dodgers.

“In the beginning, Freddie wasn’t buying in, and then he started seeing the development of the kids around him,” Washington said. “Then Freddie bought it. Once he bought in, he understood exactly what we’re doing and he never missed a day again.”

Angels players also know this isn’t just something they’re doing during spring training. It’s going to be every day through the season.

“Everybody has a cage routine,” Goins said. “Everybody should have a defense routine. My goal is to have this infield be the best infield in the league. You aren’t going to do that with a day of work here and a day of work there… There’s the scientific, sport science of ‘don’t do too much.’ That ain’t who we are. You can have all the off days you want. We’re going to outwork you.”

Goins, who played for Washington with the Braves, said he had done drills focusing on his hands before.

“I just knew it made me feel good, but I didn’t know why,” Goins said. “I think Wash gave me the rhyme and reason for why what I was doing was good. He taught me the intricacies of it.”

In Washington’s seven years with the Braves, from 2017-23, they were tied for the major-league lead in infield fielding percentage. The Angels, by contrast, ranked 27th in the majors in infield fielding percentage last year. Their 59 errors among infielders were the fourth most in the majors.

Washington isn’t about to let that happen again.

“From Day One to right now, the third week, the improvement is tremendous,” Washington said. “You should have seen the (bad) habits we had on Day One. They are gone. You don’t even know who they are right now, compared to what they were on the first day.”

PLESAC DOWN

The Angels sent down right-hander Zach Plesac, who had given up four runs in 6 1/3 innings in three Cactus League games.

Plesac came into camp as a candidate for the rotation or perhaps a long relief spot. Now, he is likely to be a starter at Triple-A, which would put him in position to fill in when needed in the majors.

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The Angels signed Plesac, 29, to a $1 million deal, taking a low-risk flier on getting him back to the form that made him one of the most promising young pitchers in the majors in 2019 and 2020.

RENDON UPDATE

Third baseman Anthony Rendon (groin) was set to go through a full workout for the third consecutive day Saturday.

“He did everything yesterday and came out well,” Washington said Saturday morning. “He’s going to go through it again today. And if everything goes well today, he’d probably be in there tomorrow.”

Rendon last played March 10.

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