How to Play Third Base

Video Transcript

" Let?s take a look at the responsibilities of the third baseman now. The third baseman generally has the responsibilities of guarding third base. Now, he'll generally line up in the middle of the left side of the field close to the third base line, that's the line that travels from home plate up past third base on into the outfield. You can actually see the foul pole behind me there. The third baseman will make plays on ground balls, making throws to first base to get runners out. He'll also protect third base if a runner is coming through. Sometimes he'll back up throws from the outfield behind the short stop if there's a play at second base in case of an errant throw. And he also has the fun responsibility of covering foul territory, because if a third baseman can make a play on a pop up in foul territory before it goes over this fence here, it's an out. So he has a lot of responsibility there as well. Something else the third baseman can do; now on a standard baseball field we'd have grass about right here. This public field doesn't have that. But sometimes the third baseman will play in on the grass in case the batter, generally a right handed batter bunts. If he's going to bunt, the third baseman can charge, field it and make a throw to first base or second base if they're trying to pull a sacrifice. The third baseman rarely if ever travels into the outfield, there are some small occasions where that might happen but it doesn't happen very frequently at all, so generally he guards the bag, he guards the line against bunts, and he explores and patrols foul territory on pop ups. And those are the responsibilities of the third baseman."