Quick answer: Pull the bases and plug the sleeves (Turface maker Profile Products). The skin should be moist, not oversaturated (the Sports Field Management Association’s skinned-infield fact sheet, issued under its old name, STMA). Nail drag only cleat-deep, ¼–½ inch (DuraEdge; the City of Delta, B.C., parks guide). Paul Zwaska of Beacon Athletics told SportsField Management a metal cleat is only 3/8 inch long. Finish with a mat drag (STMA), and never drag faster than you can walk (Pioneer Athletics). Keep drags at least 6 inches off the grass (MLB’s Baseball Tomorrow Fund field guide) and hand rake the edges (STMA). Vary the pattern and where you stop (STMA, Profile), and lift the drag off instead of pulling it across the grass (MLB guide).
Nail drag vs. steel mat vs. cocoa mat vs. drag broom
| Tool | What it does | Use it when | Avoid it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nail drag | Loosens (scarifies) the skin and works in conditioner (MLB guide, Profile) | The skin is compact and moist (STMA, Delta) | Deep passes right after rain (DuraEdge). For daily work, avoid spikes bigger than a 40 penny nail, which “can create a washboard-like effect” (Zwaska) |
| Steel mat | Zwaska’s “universal finish drag”: moves material and pulverizes small chunks | Finishing a dry field (DuraEdge: screen drag a dry field) | The skin is damp, because wet mix clumps and sticks to metal (STMA) |
| Cocoa mat | Floats without loading up or moving material (Zwaska) | The skin is damp, or for in-game drags (STMA, DuraEdge, Zwaska) | Heavy soils with no topdressing, because it won’t break up chunks (Zwaska) |
| Drag broom | Finishes topdressed or very sandy skins (Zwaska) | Conditions are damp, as a second finish drag (Zwaska) | Chunks need breaking up (Zwaska) |
Step by step
These steps follow the MLB guide’s seven-step method, with Profile’s rules added.
- Pull the bases and plug the sleeves (Profile, MLB guide), then level the base areas and clear clippings, rocks and weeds (MLB guide).
- Water if the skin is too dry to nail drag (MLB guide). Use STMA’s “cleat in / cleat out” test: a cleat that won’t go in or chunks out the clay means too dry, a cleat that comes out mucky means oversaturated. Profile: “Hold hose high to simulate rain.”
- Nail drag at cleat depth. Zwaska says a lightweight nail drag you can add weight to is the most versatile.
- Spread conditioner with a rake, if you use it (MLB guide).
- Mat or screen drag once the soil dries (Profile), staying 6 inches or more off the turf.
- Hand rake the edges, mound, base paths and plate, pulling any mix out of the grass with a plastic fan or leaf rake (MLB guide, Barr). Profile says hand dragging the edges “prevents lip build up.”
- Lift the drag off. The MLB guide: “The drag should always be picked up and carried away and never dragged across the grass area.”
- Water as needed (MLB guide).
How deep, how fast, how close to the grass
| Source | Edge buffer | Nail-drag depth | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| MLB guide, Profile, Little League’s Rob Guthrie, Joseph Barr | At least 6 in | — | Profile: if you’re slinging soil, you’re going too fast |
| STMA | Hand rake the last 6–12 in | Light enough to remove spike marks | — |
| Jordan Treadway, Roger Dean Stadium | 4–6 in for new crew | — | “go slow” |
| Pioneer Athletics | At least 1 ft | — | No faster than a walk; 3–4 mph top |
| City of Delta | About 2 ft (nail drag) | ¼–½ in, a player’s cleat depth | Slow, consistent |
| Zwaska; DuraEdge | — | ¼–½ in; a metal cleat is 3/8 in (Zwaska) | — |
| TJ Brewer, Burlington Bees | — | Under ¼ in, usually ⅛ in | — |
Sources range from 6 inches to about 2 feet; the common minimum is 6 inches, everything inside that buffer gets hand-raked, and the nail drag should go no deeper than a cleat.
Dragging patterns
These patterns come from Pioneer Athletics’ dragging-pattern sheet. Top speed is 3–4 mph unless noted.
Circle, outside in
Pioneer’s finishing pattern. Start at the first- or third-base line with the mat about one foot inside the lip and work from the outside edge inward. Switch between clockwise and counterclockwise.
Circle, inside out
One of the alternating patterns. It moves debris to the outside, where you can collect it.
Clover leaf
Start from the first- and third-base lines. Make tight 90-degree turns around the mound and 180-degree turns around the bases. Then repeat, overlapping the outside edge of the first pass.
Overlapping circles
Used with the clover leaf and circle patterns, it helps keep the crown. Each circle overlaps through the middle of the one before, from one baseline to the other. Switch direction each time, with a top speed of 3 mph.
The MLB guide’s spiral
Spiral the mat from the infield grass line to the outfield grass, starting at the third-base foul line and moving across to first. The spiral “should measure 9-10 ft. in diameter.”
Whatever pattern you use, vary the starting and stopping points so you don’t build high and low spots (STMA, Profile). Compare mats in our drag mat roundup.
Base paths, cutouts, mound and plate
STMA says base paths “should be raked by hand whenever possible and kept slightly firmer than the rest of the infield.” Rake up and down the baseline, never across (MLB guide, DuraEdge, Barr). The MLB guide warns that raking across “can cause a low spot to develop down the middle of the path.” Shovel off old chalk first (MLB guide). If you drag the paths, use a drag narrower than the path and match its width so one or two passes do the job (MLB guide, Profile). Guthrie hand rakes the cutouts, the mound and home plate. See building a pitching mound and mound and plate clay.
Dragging a wet infield
On damp skin, use a cocoa mat instead of steel (STMA, Zwaska, DuraEdge).
- DuraEdge: “DO NOT deeply nail drag an infield after a rain — ever!”
- Keep equipment off the skin until it’s firm enough to walk on (DuraEdge).
- Don’t sweep, rake or squeegee water off, and don’t use cat litter or oil dry (DuraEdge). Guthrie says to “stay away from products labeled as quick dry.”
Before a wet afternoon or evening game, Guthrie soaks up standing water with puddle pillows and rakes in calcined clay. Then he says to “Nail drag the entire skin and let sit until close to game time.” He adds more calcined clay before pregame and finishes with a screen drag. See fixing puddles and drainage and calcined clay vs. infield mix.
When rain is expected, DuraEdge says to drag and roll the skin to help drainage.
Stopping lips before they start
A lip is infield mix that builds up where the skin meets the grass. STMA says a lip makes a good grade useless because water pools there. Infield soil should be level with the root-zone soil, not with the top of the turf. STMA says lips come from wind and water erosion, poor dragging, and players pushing dirt toward the edges.
- Ideal: sweep out the edge daily (STMA).
- Realistic: use a backpack blower weekly and a hose monthly (STMA).
- As needed: sweep dirt back onto the skin with a stiff brush broom and wash out any lip that starts with a hose (MLB guide).
- Edging: every two weeks during the growing season (MLB guide, Guthrie), always with a string line (MLB guide).
For major lips, STMA says you often have no choice but to remove the turf with a sod cutter, regrade and replace the turfgrass. See how to grade a baseball field and what an infield renovation costs.
How often to drag
- Dragging can be a daily job on many fields, with a mat drag before each game (STMA).
- Drag after every game or practice (MLB guide, Guthrie, Delta). Barr: “If you don’t, the foot marks and holes can harden or turn into mud bogs overnight if it rains.”
- On game day (MLB checklist), scarify with a spiker, drag smooth, water, then set the chalk lines. See baseball and softball field marking.
- Nail drag only when the skin is “too compact for safe play” (Delta), and keep it light for daily work (STMA, Brewer).
Where to get drags, groomers and help
These businesses are listed in our directory. A listing is not an endorsement, and each description comes only from the business’s listing.
Drag and groomer dealers in our directory
Browse all equipment dealers.
| Business | Based in | What the listing says |
|---|---|---|
| Beacon Athletics | Middleton, WI | Drag mats, nail drags, hand rakes and ballfield maintenance training |
| Anthem Sports | Pawcatuck, CT | Drag mats for smoothing and leveling the infield skin |
| Barney’s Blends | Anaheim, CA | Drag mats, hoses and groundskeeping tools |
| Valley Athletics | Portland, OR | Drags, drying agents and infield mixes |
| Smithco | Wayne, PA | Sand Star E electric and Sand Star CVT infield groomers |
| ABI Attachments, Inc. | Mishawaka, IN | Infield Rascal pull-behind groomers and VibraFlex drags |
| Rahn Groomer | New Prague, MN | A groomer for infield aggregate surfaces, lip brooms for the Toro Sand Pro and the FlexSteel brush |
| American Sports Fields | Knoxville, TN | Field drags and hand tools |
| TurfTime Equipment | New Holland, PA | Triple Play infield groomers and rollers |
| Rogers Base Company | Wake Forest, NC | Nail drags and grooming rakes |
| HittingWorld | Moraga, CA | Infield maintenance tools |
| PYT Sports | Bridgeview, IL | Drags, rakes and tamps |
Contractors who groom infields or remove lips
Browse all field maintenance contractors, and read our questions to ask a maintenance contractor before you hire one.
| Business | Based in | What the listing says |
|---|---|---|
| BigFoot Turf | La Salle, CO | Infield edging and realignment |
| Innovative Companies | Chardon, OH | Infield scarifying and regular field grooming |
| R.A.D. Sports | Rockland, MA | Skinned-area grooming; edging that reduces lip buildup |
| Sports Turf Specialties, Inc. | Wrentham, MA | Lip removal |
| GW Sport Fields | Farmington, NM | Lip removal and field conditioning |
| WestGro Contracting | Buckeye, AZ | Lip removal |
| BallField Renovations | Greenfield, IN | Edging, as part of infield renovation |
| Greenway Athletic Field Services | Stamford, CT | Lip removal |
| Anderson Turf Management | Halifax, VA | Lip removal |
| Magic Turf | Rogers, MN | Infield lip removal; field edging |
| Athletic Field Services of Arkansas | Sherwood, AR | Lip removal and edging |
| Van’s Enterprises, LTD. | Waukegan, IL | Infield lip removal |
| Professional Outdoor Solutions | Tolono, IL | Repairing infield lips |
| Earthworks Sports Field Construction | Ashland, VA | Infield grooming and lip removal |
| Great Fields Co. | Pleasant Hill, CA | Seasonal grooming and on-site field crew training |
| Vance’s Landscape Supply Inc. | Beaver Falls, PA | Infield edging |
| Metro Grounds Management | Sandy Spring, MD | Infield grooming |
| Diamond Doctors of Iowa | Vinton, IA | Outfield lip removal |
| Rocky Mountain Sports Fields LLC | Denver, CO | Infield skin maintenance and lip removal |
| Mountaineer Diamond Care & Landscaping | Middletown, DE | Infield lip removal and re-edging |
If the skin is thin or losing material, the fix is more infield mix, not more dragging. Find suppliers in our directory of infield mix suppliers.
FAQ
How deep should a nail drag go?
About as deep as a cleat: ¼–½ inch (Zwaska, DuraEdge, Delta).
How far from the grass should you drag an infield?
At least 6 inches (MLB guide, Profile, Little League). Pioneer says one foot, and Delta says about 2 feet for nail dragging. Hand rake the strip between the drag and the grass.
Should you drag a wet infield?
On damp skin, use a cocoa mat, not steel (STMA, DuraEdge). After rain, don’t nail drag deeply, and don’t drive on the skin until it’s firm enough to walk on (DuraEdge).
What pattern should you drag an infield in?
Pioneer uses circles, the clover leaf and overlapping circles; the MLB guide uses a spiral. Change the direction and where you stop (STMA, Profile).
