Name: Anh Nguyen
Professor Mark Harris
ENGL 101 – 049
08 December 2015
Ty’s introduction to defensive positions in baseball
Baseball is the original America’s sport. It is an iconic sport because it can be played everywhere from parks, playgrounds, back alleys to farmers’ fields, and it can be played by everyone from small children to old men, from raw amateurs to millionaire professionals. In the game, the two teams will take turn batting and pitching/defending. Batting is important because you need points to win, but defending is also important because you need to keep your opponent from scoring. As a baseball player with three years playing in the school club, I am very confident on my knowledge of the game and specifically, the positions. For new players who want to try playing baseball, you need to choose one position from nine on the field, with each position has its own attributes and responsibilities.
We are going to take a look at the defense formation from the farthest players away from the home plate to the nearest one: outfielders, infielders, pitcher and catcher. There are three positions in the outfield: left fielder, center fielder and right fielder. Respectively, the defense position numbers which are used in the scoresheet are 7, 8 and 9. Outfielders normally play behind the six other members of the defense who play in or near the infield. Because the length of each baseball field are different, the distance from the outfield wall to the home plate of each field is unique. However, outfielders normally stand 200 to 250 feet from the home plate. In the game, an outfielder's duty is to try to catch long fly balls before they hit the ground or to quickly catch or retrieve and return to the infield any other balls entering the outfield. For equipment, outfielder's gloves are usually quite long with deep pockets, to help with catching fly balls on the run or in a dive, and to keep outfielders from having to bend down as far to field a ground ball. These gloves typically have 12- to 12.75-inch patterns, measured from wrist to the tip. On a sunny day, outfielders may wear sunglasses to concentrate better on fly balls. Outfielders are the easiest positions to start with in baseball, but they are the hardest positions to master; easy because of the simplicity in the gameplay, and hard because of the high level of skill needed to make big plays. For example, you can play perfectly the whole game by catching easy fly balls without any trouble, but you can miss the jump-and-catch the home run ball and lose your team the game. However, those situations don’t happen regularly, so outfield positions are recommended to newer players of the game. Moving on to the direction of the home plate, we have the infielders. There are four positions that are called infielders: first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and shortstop. Their defense position numbers are 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the same order. Because there are a lot of defensive formations for many situations of the game, the infielders’ position are not set in stone. However, each of them has an area of where they are responsible for in the field. For the first baseman, the area is from the first base to half the distance from second base, and the second baseman is responsible for the rest of the distance to second base. Shortstop’s area is from the second base to have the distance from third base, and the third baseman has the rest of the area from second base to third base. While the distance from the first base and the third base to the home plate are the same and equal to 90 feet, the distance from the second base to the home plate is 127 feet and 3 3/8 inches. Like the outfielders, an infielder's duty is to try to catch fly balls before they hit the ground or to quickly catch or retrieve and throw the ball to other infielders accordingly to the game plan. As a result, infielders also have to catch a ball being thrown to them while standing on the base to record an out. Infielders’ gloves have shallow pockets unlike outfielder’s to allow fielders to remove the ball easily in order to make a quick throw to a base. The webbing of gloves will be open to allow dirt to move through so that the infielder does not pull out a handful of dirt when trying to remove the ball from the glove. Infielder's gloves typically have 11- to 12-inch patterns, measured from the wrist to the tip; however, first basemen’s gloves are longer and wider to help them "pick” or “scoop" badly thrown balls from infielders, ranging from 12.5 to 12.75 inches. Infield positions are not recommended to the newer players of the game because it needs fast reaction, strong arms and finesse in throwing and catching the ball, which only come with a long time of training and practicing. Next, we have most important position in the game: the pitcher. Pitchers’ defense position number is 1. In the game, pitchers stand on the mound which is exactly sixty feet and six inches from the home plate. In most cases, the objective of the pitcher is to deliver the pitch to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball with the bat. A successful pitch is delivered in such a way that the batter either allows the pitch to pass through the strike zone, swings the bat at the ball and misses it, or hits the ball poorly resulting in an out. The pitcher's duty does not cease after he pitches the ball. Once the ball is in play, the pitcher, like other fielders, will respond to any part of the field necessary to make or assist in a defensive play. Unlike infielders, pitchers’ gloves usually have a closed, opaque webbing to allow pitchers to conceal their grip on the ball (which, in part, determines the behavior of the pitch in flight) from the batter, and they tend to have 11.75- to 12-inch patterns. Pitcher is the easiest defensive position in the field because it doesn’t require running long distances or throwing long balls with precision. However, in order to be a successful pitcher, you need to have a variety of pitches to stop the batter from hitting the ball. Therefore, pitchers are only recommended to players who are passionate to the game and determined to learn different kinds of pitches. Finally, the catcher is the closer person to the plate in the defense team. In the scoresheet, catchers’ number are 2. In the game, the catcher’s position is right behind home plate, in front of the home umpire (baseball term for referee). In addition to normal fielding responsibilities like catching fly balls and throwing the balls to the infielders, they have to call for pitches using hand signals and receive the pitches from the pitcher. Sometimes the pitcher can’t control his pitch, so the catcher is always equipped with protectors and guards for safety reasons. These include a face mask, chest and throat protectors, shin guards and a heavily padded catcher’s mitt. Catcher's mitts are called "mitts" because they lack individual fingers, like mittens. They have extra padding and a hinged, claw-like shape that helps them funnel high speed fastballs into the pocket and provide a good target for pitchers. Sizes of catcher's mitts, unlike those of other gloves, are measured around the circumference, and they typically have 32- to 34-inch patterns. Having played the game for three years, I can’t still say that I’m confident being a catcher. This unique position is exceptionally hard because it needs all physical elements (fast reaction, strong hands and the ability to crouch for a long amount of time) as well as the sharpness of a baseball player who knows what pitch is the best in different situations. For new players, catcher is the hardest position in the field. However, if you think you are qualified and you are interested in being a catcher, I don’t see a reason not to try. Baseball is a very interesting sport which is fairly easy for beginners to learn. Although there are nine defensive positions in the field, and each position has different responsibilities, they are all equally important. As said in the introduction, if everybody can play baseball, what’s holding you back? After acknowledging the specific details of each positions and their difference, it’s your time to choose your favorite position, buy the equipment, gather your friends and enjoy a wonderful afternoon with a game of baseball in the park!