Tagged With "Fly"

Anyone have tips on improving my footwork in the outfield and getting quality reps on reading fly balls. My dad never really played baseball so he is out of the question as far as someone that can help me. I feel the best way is to just immerse myself in the game so that I can see as many fly balls as possible, but to do that I need an instructor in the Dallas area (if you know of one please tell me!). Besides this does anyone have drills or certain things that I can focus on by myself?

Hello, new member and somewhat new to scorekeeping for 14u team. I have some plays over the past few weeks that i'd like to get some opinions on if they are errors or not. I'm still a little unclear how much weight to give to "weather" when it comes to judging errors for the second and third situation. Thanks for any help. Situation #1: Fly ball hit a ball to the right field gap and a three-way collision ensues in the outfield between CF, RF and 2B, and ball drops. An error to the right...

Bases are loaded. Batter hits a ball approx 15 feet in the air on an arc between 1st and 2nd basemen. They both get close to the ball but don't touch it. I called infield fly rule. Batter is out. All runners advanced a base because they didn't catch...

Infield fly rule is called when the infielder is"camped" under a ball to make a routine catch of a fly. This can also happen when a second baseman or ss is playing deep, ball is popped up and ball would land beyond the dirt cutout but if deemed a routine fly for an infielder then it is an infield fly rule. If the fly is in the infield and the catch is not a routine catch, then the rule does not go into play. Sounds to me like you were hasty in making the call. Tough judgement call. Runners...

Do they have to be camped under it or does it just have to be some sort of catchable ball? If camped under, I could see a smart infielder intentional staying behind it but not under it in order to get a double or triple play

They do not have to be camped under it, the umpire just has to deem it a routine fly. Some age groups nothing is routine. If fielder is still adjusting to the ball, is it routine or are they approaching the ball? Umpires discretion, routine or not. The final thing to think about is the infield fly that is foul, call is "Infield fly rule, if fair."

In addition to the requirement that it can be caught with ordinary effort by an infielder, the ball has to be a fly ball, which is defined as a ball that reaches an appreciable height and is contrasted to a line drive, which is defined as a ball that travels parallel or nearly parallel to the ground for most of its flight. I don't call infield fly on humpbacked liners. My subjective sense of ordinary effort is shaped by the purpose of the rule and by what the runners at that level should be...

Thank you all for your replies. Upon further recollection of the event, I don't think I would've called it an infield fly rule. They were making great effort to get there, didn't quite make it, no camping under the ball and the trajectory wasn't great. I thinj because I missed this call in my last game that I was over compensating for it this time. Although, upon talking to my field ump and the coach, they didn't seem to mind my call. But definitely need to get better at making these...

You neglected to mention in OP that you were PU... Anyway, this is where a good pregame and your partner help you out. The partner can help with the height and ordinary effort portion and then point skyward indicating IFR. As a PU you can/should look at your partner since he'll have the ball tracked, if he's pointing up, then call it. If not, then perhaps he has something that says it's not. Depending on level there are certainly some grey areas. The downside if you don't call it in those...

Rule states: "...ordinary effort.." That's important. If they are running, that's not ordinary effort. Also, your field umpire can help you by determining it's an infield fly and he can point straight up. Use your field umpire so that means have a good pregame. Ok, sounds like you dorked this one up. Learn from it and get better next time. Keep trying, you're doing a hard job. In time, you'll feel yourself advancing and getting better. When you do, you'll get better games. One of these days...

IMO, No errors on any play. While the standard is ordinary effort, generally its interpreted as basically requiring the fielder either touch the ball or essentially have it go through him (e.g., infielder ball between his legs). Instance 1 was a miscommunication between three fielders; instance 2 was a player who will now never forget his sunglasses and use his glove to block the sun; instance 3 could be attributed to the weather. The good news is that the first two instances provide great...

None of those seem like routine plays 14u players would be expected make all of the time. I think if any of these plays are made the players gets a "ooh great catch". This is 14u ball and good teaching moments. I would mark them down as hits and remind the kids how to handle them better next time.

As Goosegg says, the standard is "ordinary effort." You have to make a subjective decision. Considering the totality of circumstances--where the fielder was positioned, where and how the ball was hit, and other factors in play like wind and sun--should a player of average ability at that level of baseball be able to make the play while exerting ordinary effort? One unofficial rule of thumb I use is to put myself in the position of the pitcher. Could the pitcher have reasonably expected the...

If you're the pitcher's dad: All three are errors. If you're the hitters' dad: All three are hits.

As a pitcher's dad, I often suspected scorekeepers of basing their decision on their assumption that it's better to call it a hit and have the pitcher's dad hate them than to call it an error and have both the hitter's dad and the fielder's dad hate them.

Situation 1: Hit. If caught it would have been a great play by any of the three players involved. Not an ordinary effort play. Situation 2: Hit. IT's exceptional effort to block the sun with the glove to make the play, especially at 14. Chances are, even with sunglasses it could have been difficult to catch. Situation 3: Hit. It would take exceptional effort to quickly calculate the wind and rain effect. If the player made the play everybody would have clapped, suggesting it wasn't an...

Thank you for all the responses. Great advice.

I have been keeping the book for years. I can't tell you the number of times I have had the "he should have had it" - "the standard is ordinary effort" conversation. However, this year, I have become frustrated by a first baseman who doesn't scoop well and never comes off the bag to block a ball. The throws could be better but a better first baseman would have cut the errors in half or at least held the runner at first instead of letting the ball get by him and the runner going to 2nd. All...

DadintheBox posted: …All this to say is that scoring is subjective and sometimes the wrong person is hit with the error (ex. SS makes a great play in the hole and throws off balance. Ball is a low throw that one hops. 1st baseman scoops and misses - E6. But a good 1B makes the play 9/10 times). ... I agree that a good F3 saves a lot of errors, but it doesn’t matter. Any throw that strikes the ground that would have put a runner out if it was caught, is an error on the thrower. OBR Rule...

I mentioned this before. I don't really sweat what the guy who does the book. writes down. A lot of time and at lower levels its a dad that means well or another player. Not exactly experienced score keeping. If your trying to keep track and record at the HS level for college recruiters, thats a different issue. at 14/u it really doesn't to much. My son's a catcher and I know what he should and shouldn't get to....I dont sweat if the pitcher spikes the ball two feet in front of the plate and...

This has been brought up time and time again, but HS stats are not reliable (Many times the official score book is kept by a parent or player in the dugout) and college coaches rarely (If ever) take them into account. What they do take into account is the player's tools. Not saying HS stats shouldn't be kept, but statistically the data set is too small to mean anything. Even at the college level where they play three times as many games in a season, the data set is not quite enough to mean...

You can also buddy up with teammates, head to the field and take turns hitting each other reps. You can youtube some good OF drills and mechanics. ABCA stuff is always solid.

Ball over brim of cap you must "open the gate" that means if it is to your left your left foot should drop taking your left shoulder away from home plate. Same move on balls hit to your right except it is right foot dropping. If ball is below brim of cap hold your ground or step forward toward ball. Know your field.... for Corner outfielders the ball will bend toward the line. Center fielders have to play slice and hook. Left hand hitter to left field gap will slice to LF line. In Right...

Here's what I've done to bring new HS outfielders up to speed on fly balls: Set up a two-wheel pitching machine to shoot 300 foot very-high fly balls. It's best to use leather baseballs with torn seams, which randomly hook or slice. (Torn seams, not torn covers.) When our regular BP balls get torn seams, I save them in a bucket for this purpose.