Help for Outfielders

Jim -A number of years ago, our association invited a speaker to address various skill issues for coaches of our 7-17 hardball program. Unfortunately, I forget the speaker's name but I believe he was from Michigan State University. The same phenomena you describe was discussed with him. I do not know if his reply was correct, but it did make sense. He pointed out that success in fly ball catching is a function of depth perception. In many pre-teen players, the face development has not reached the point of providing sufficient distance between the eyes to permit good stereo sight. In other words, the child's inability to judge a fly ball has less to do with talent or technique, and more to do with physical development. So, as a coach, when chosing outfielders, looking for kids with wide spread eyes is a good tip. No amount of drills is going to solve the problem of misjudged fly balls if the kid just can't see them yet.