The Five F’s of Fielding

In most sports, competitors will often state that “offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” Most of the time this is correct. Games can be won off of producing an extreme amount of hits, but are often lost by one or two crucial errors. When a game comes down to the wire it is often contingent and won off of one big hit or one timely error. That is what makes defense so vitally important to the game of baseball. When it comes to defense, the infield will often receive the majority of the balls hit and need to be equipped with fundamentals to quickly release the ball to get an out. Here we will break down the five F’s of fielding of a fundamentally sound infielder.

Feet

In order to do anything effective in the realm of a sport you must have efficient footwork. For baseball and fielding, this looks like beginning with what most coaches call the “prep step.” Prior to the pitcher throwing the ball, each infielder should approach the batter taking about 2-3 steps to get your feet moving. The fielder should land on the balls of your feet spread about shoulder width apart. The middle infielders (shortstop and second baseman) should finish with a narrower stance than the corner infielders (first and third baseman). Once the ball is hit to any of the fielders, that fielder should shuffle their feet so that they can field the ball on their glove side. This certainly doesn’t complete the work of the feet, but it establishes the prep step up until the infielder fields the ball.

Field

Fielding the ball is obviously the most crucial part of this process. Most mistakes in the process of fielding are made when an infielder is fielding the ball. In the event of a ball hit to the forehand of a player, that player should position their body so that the ball will be fielded on their glove side. Charging the ball is critical to increase the amount of time you have to throw the ball before the runner is safe. Practically this looks like moving your body towards the ball and breaking down so that you can field it on your glove side. Your glove should begin touching the ground with knees bent, back straight, and head up. This position will create a wall so that if the ball takes a bad bounce, your body will knock it down. Your arms should both be straight and have loose wrists. Loose wrists are key to receiving the ball in. You should field a ball from the ground up.

Funnel

Once the ball is fielded with two hands the next step is the funnel or receive the ball into your body. This is intended to help secure the ball and to get ready for the throw. The non-glove hand should cover the ball on top of the glove while the glove is moving closer to the fielders body.

Fire

The fire is another term for throwing the ball. After funneling the ball closer to your body, the fielder should shuffle at least once to get your body moving towards your target, and then throw the ball. You should typically have a shorter arm release to decrease the amount of time you are holding the ball. The more time you have to throw the ball, the more you can shuffle towards your target to ensure an accurate throw.

Follow-through

The final step of fielding is the follow-through. This step is super important and without it, your throw could end up in one of those crucial errors that cost your team the game. After the throw, your body should continue to move towards your target while your arm is moving across your body.

With these five F’s of fielder, you will be guaranteed a more successful defense experience and be more of an attribute to your team. While this only scratches the surface of fielding a baseball, there is a lot more nitty gritty that we could get into. However, for the beginners, this will put you on the right track to becoming a better player.