How to Play in the Outfield

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Mickey Hiter with Sandlott Baseball and I've been asked to give you some tips on playing outfield. One of the things that you need to do to be a good outfielder is to get a good jump on the ball and that means that you actually you anticipate where the ball's going to be hit. If you watch the batter, you can see if it's an outside pitches most likely and you use the right hand, the batter's going to be probably hit to the right side of the field where the inside pitch would tend to be pulled. So, try to anticipate the ball coming off the bat. Secondly, read the bat of the ball angle off the bat. If the ball goes down obviously you going to have to charge the ball 'cos we got a ground ball. If it's in the air, always make sure that if you're unsure to take the first step backwards so that you don't run in and get buried running out on the ball. Thirdly, nextly, we need the next thing we do is to make sure that we get a good route to the ball and approach the ball at a good angle. If the ball is going to be hit behind us, we don't want to run straight across and then out to it. We want to run to a plot to intercept the ball and try to get behind it. If you want to always keep in the line in your mind that you'd like to get behind the ball to catch it, you're going to be much better off because you won't get buried number one. And number two, once you get behind the ball and come back to catch the ball, you're going to be in a much better position to throw the ball 'cos once you catch it, it's imperative that you get the ball back to the infield or the cut-off man as soon as possible. Remember, unless you have a line right before you have to run directly to the ball to try to gain ground and get behind the ball so that you're coming back to when you get it. Also, remember once you get the ball in your hands, look for the cut-off man. Don't just turn around and choke the ball randomly back towards infield. You want to put it in the air if at all possible to the guy that your cut-off guy so he can relay the ball to the next base. For catching a fly ball, we basically want to catch the ball above our shoulders in this manner. It's not a bad idea to use two hands, old school style to make sure we don't loft the ball. If the ball is sinking and we have to run and catch the ball, we're going to catch it big alligator, little alligator like this and get a good idea to cover the ball. And that's some good tips on playing outfield."