One thing that a lot of lower level amateur coaches (and some high school coaches I’ve seen) don’t teach is how to properly field a ground ball in the outfield.
Taking a proper route to the ball is highly important and I’ll probably address it in another post. I’m just talking about fielding the ball here.
First, if there is no play anticipated at all after fielding the ball, the outfielder should NOT field the ball as if they were an infielder. Instead, the outfielder should drop to one knee on the side of the throwing hand and block the ball so it does not roll past. Nothing will irritate a coach more than a routine single being turned into a double or triple.
Second is the do or die version. This is used if a play is anticipated AFTER the ball is thrown and the ball can be fielded directly in front of the outfielder. As the ball is approaching the fielder, the ball should be caught on the player’s glove side in concert with the glove side leg being forward in the stride. The next step is with the leg on the non-glove side. That leg should effect a crow hop (a slight hop with the non-glove side to generate a little push) or a simple push off with that non glove leg while making the throw.
Priorities should be kept in mind with the do or die move. First, the player should size up the situation in his head before the pitch occurs. He should analyze the speed of the runner, the inning, the impact of a run scoring. For example, if the slowest guy in the league is on second and the ball is hit sharply to the outfielder, the runner may not score.
Another situation is a tie game at the bottom of the last inning. Throwing the runner out at home may be all the stands between your team losing or going on to the next inning. In that situation, the player may not even have to hit the cutoff man.
In any situation other than the one described directly above, hit the darned cutoff man. The catcher is the one making the decision (at least he should be) as to whether your throw will get the man at home. If you don’t hit the cutoff man, the player hitting the single should be going to second. Usually easily. By not hitting the cutoff man you could be creating a big inning for your opponent.
Tags: baseball, fielding, outfielder, tips
