Quick hands are essential for dropping your pop time.  The ability to get the ball in and out of the mitt quickly and on its way to second, which is called your release time, will often times mean the difference between a safe or out call.

Keys to quick hands (a quick release) are the following:

1. When ever possible, have the mitt moving in the direction of the exchange/transfer (moving the ball from the mitt to the throwing hand), as the ball is going in, not after.  A pre-catch move will help speed up the release process.  We literally want the exchange/transfer to end up like a deflection of the ball from the mitt into the throwing hand... no digging.
2. Turn the mitt to the side as the ball is going in, not down.  When the mitt is turned down, it automatically creates a loop in the exchange/transfer which will in turn make it slower... the shortest point between two points is a straight line.  The arms go in a straight line to throwing position.  While the throwing arm is going up and back, the mitt arm goes up and out front.
3. Get the ball out of the mitt somewhere near the mid-line of the body (not the ear).  We don't want the mitt to come back farther than around the right shoulder (right handed throwers).  You can move the ball a lot faster than the heavy mitt, so get the ball out of the mitt as quickly as possible.  Additionally, the more the mitt arm elbow comes back, the more biomechanically incorrect the throw will become... we want the mitt out in front of us.

If you can do these three things consistently, it will help tremendously with dropping your pop time.