baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

, while there are nine named fielding positions, players, with the exception of the

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

and

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

, may move around freely. The ''positioning'' for the other seven positions is very flexible, although they all have regular ''depths''—distances from

home plate A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

, and sometimes lateral positioning. A ''shift'' means that a player is playing in a noticeably different location than the norm for his positioning. A fielder who is playing ''shallow'' or ''in'' is playing closer to home plate, while a player playing ''deep'' is playing farther from home plate than normal.

Common types of positioning

Regular terms are used for some positionings. For example, ''double play depth'' is used when there is potential for a

force play In baseball, a force is a situation when a baserunner is compelled (or ''forced'') to vacate their starting base (time-of-pitch base) and try to advance to the next base. When a runner is forced to advance to a base, they are forced out if an o ...

at second base. This means the

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and second baseman are playing slightly closer to second base and sometimes a little bit shallower. This position makes it easier to turn the

double play In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs. In Major Leag ...

. The

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

is said to be ''holding the runner'' if he positions himself right at first base with one foot on the base, ready to receive a pickoff throw from the pitcher if the runner strays too far from first base between pitches. ''Bringing the corners in'' means the first and third baseman are both playing ''in'' (closer than usual to home plate); this will often be used with runners at third base or when a

bunt Bunt may refer to: * Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India * Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball * Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail * Bunt Island, island in Antarctica * The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...

is anticipated. The disadvantage of these defensive shifts is that they make more room for the hitter to hit the ball through the gaps for a base hit or lay down a successful bunt too far from any fielder to make a play resulting in an out. Sometimes in the bottom half of the ninth inning (or later), when a team has a runner on third base in a tie game with less than two outs, the defending team will pull the outfielders in very close, almost creating three extra infielders. This is sometimes known as ''do or die'' depth. The reason for positioning this way in this situation is that there is no point in having the outfielders playing deep, waiting to catch a fly ball for an out; if they do, the runner at third base will be able to

tag up In baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on th ...

when the ball is caught and then run to home plate to score the winning run. So the outfielders can contribute constructively only by filling the gaps between the infielders.

Infield shift

Some extreme repositioning known as a shift has been used against

pull hitter In baseball, a pull hitter is a batter who usually hits the ball to the side of the field from which he bats. For example, a right-handed pull hitter, who bats from the left side of the plate, will usually hit the ball to the left side of the fie ...

s, a strategy that has become more prevalent in Major League Baseball since the late-2000s. For example, versus excellent left-handed pull-hitters like

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 ...

, David Ortiz,

Joey Gallo Joseph Nicholas Gallo (born November 19, 1993) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Do ...

and Ryan Howard, teams will move more players to the right side of the field. They sometimes play with the shortstop behind or even to the right of second base. The second baseman may simply move to the right, in which case this just qualifies as a shift, or he might move deeper into shallow

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. Another variation has the third baseman move to where the shortstop would play in the shift, leaving the shortstop (who is generally the team's best infielder) to cover the left side of the infield. Many believe that this shift was first employed against Ted Williams in the 1940s, as thought up by then- Indians

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Lou Boudreau. However, it was first used against

Cy Williams Frederick "Cy" Williams (December 21, 1887 – April 23, 1974) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Chicago Cubs (1912–17) and Philadelphia Phillies (1918–30). As Major L ...

in the 1920s.

References

{{Baseball Positioning

Common types of positioning

Infield shift

See also

References