Inside the high-tech television control room in a truck parked behind the rightfield bleachers.
Photo by Corey Sandler
C H A P T E R E I G H T E E N
The outfield is where a manager wants home-run hitters and RBI guys. But a winning team also really needs a good defensive center fielder.
It is a beautiful thing to watch a good center fielder play defense: someone who can cover a lot of ground, make plays at the wall, and charge balls that are just over the infield.
Here are my benchmarks for outfielders:
On an ordinary base hit to right field, the batter doesn’t often stretch the hit into a double. One reason: because the right fielder could throw behind him and pick him off, the runner doesn’t take a big turn around first base. If the ball is hit to left field, though, the runner will usually round first base toward second and then decide whether to take a chance on stretching a single into a double.
Think about all the things that go into a full-speed chase after a little baseball. First of all, the fielder has to be able to read the ball off the bat. How deep it is going to be? Is it going to sink fast? Will it slice one way or the other?
Then the outfielder has to make the proper cut to get himself into position. He has to keep his eye on the baseball, all the while running at full speed toward a wall that’s not going to move. Finally, at just the right split second, he has to make the perfect leap to get the ball and hold on to it if he crashes into the wall.
I don’t care if you make that play in Yankee Stadium or a Little League field, when you know you’ve taken away an extra base hit, it’s a great feeling.
When there are runners on base, an outfielder tries to catch the ball in a good throwing position. If he’s a right-handed thrower, he’d want to catch the ball facing toward left field, so that his right arm is squared up to throw toward home plate or one of the bases. It’s even better to make the catch coming in on the ball so that the fielder has a bit of momentum going in the direction in which he’s going to throw.
It’s also good to catch the ball with two hands so that transfer from the glove to the throwing hand is easy. And the outfielder wants to be on the balls of his feet, not back on his heels or drifting backward.
You can see how difficult it is for a right-handed thrower to end up in a good throwing position if he is running to his left to catch up with a ball. The same goes for a lefty running toward his right.
The center fielder is supposed to be in charge in the outfield, but that doesn’t mean that he always catches the ball when he can. In certain situations, when there has to be a throw to home plate, for example, it might be better for one of the other outfielders to make the play if that fielder has a better throwing arm or is in a better position to make the throw.
But when the center fielder calls for the ball, the other two fielders are supposed to back off.
There are times, though, when communication doesn’t work. It happens more in the outfield than it does in the infield because the outfielders are farther apart and the crowd noise can be overwhelming. When I played second base and ran out into right-center after a pop-up, I’d sometimes hear both the center fielder and the right fielder calling for the ball.
“It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn’t in the stands.”
MONTE IRVIN, HALL OF FAME OUTFIELDER FOR THE NEW YORK GIANTS, SPEAKING ABOUT FELLOW OUTFIELDER AND HALL OF FAMER WILLIE MAYS
The same rule applies when an infielder is chasing a pop fly into the outfield. The infielder goes as hard as he can until he hears an outfielder call him off.
A mistake some outfielders make is to call for the ball too soon and then not be able to get to it. This is a tough play because the outfielder is not looking at the other guy going after the ball, and the other player’s not looking at the outfielder; they’re both concentrating on the ball.
We saw a frightening example of this sort of situation in the final game of the 2003 divisional playoffs between Boston and Oakland. Former Red Sox center fielder Johnny Damon collided with second baseman Damian Jackson as they converged on a pop fly in shallow center. Damon was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion that kept him out of the first two games of the American League Championship Series against New York.
There’s got to be some kind of communication or there’s going to be a collision. A fielder yells, “I got it. I got it. I got it.” It’s not brain surgery. If he doesn’t hear someone call him off, he keeps going.
People sometimes talk about an outfield “team.” I think more in terms of two outfielders at a time working on certain plays. You see that a lot in Boston when the left fielder goes for the ball up against the Green Monster; if it caroms off the wall, the center fielder is there to back up the play.
Outfielders talk to each other all the time, although not quite as much as the players do in the infield. They signal to each other to move their position, sometimes changing position on counts, or to remind each other to back up in a particular situation. Let’s say the center fielder is going to his left or right after a ball; he should get help from one of the corner outfielders or an infielder on where to throw the ball.
Rem Dawg Remembers
Hung Up in Fenway
Late in the 2003 season, Chicago White Sox left fielder Carlos Lee made a spectacular catch in front of the out-of-town scoreboard on the Green Monster in Boston, and when he came down, he ended up with his jersey hooked on the wall. That is something you don’t see very often. It would have been even more interesting if it hadn’t been the third out in the inning.
Every once in a while, you’ll see an outfielder make a catch and then throw a lateral pass to another fielder for the throw back to the infield. Here’s an example: The center fielder is charging hard toward the wall to make a catch, it’s going to be very difficult for him to stop and turn around to throw. If the right fielder is coming over to help him, the center fielder can flip it to him because the right fielder is in a better position to throw.
The most difficult play for an outfielder is anything over his head going toward the wall. He’s running full speed, he feels the warning track, and from that point he’s got to know how far it is to the wall. A guy like Trot Nixon, for example, has no regard for a wall. He’s just going to keep running until something knocks him down.
And then there are outfielders who defy gravity and climb the wall. Think of Torii Hunter taking away Barry Bonds’s home run in the 2002 All-Star Game. For Hunter it must have been a dream come true. He’s playing in his first All-Star Game. The most prolific home-run hitter in the game is at the plate and hits a long drive that is heading over the fence.
Hunter makes a great play and shows the world why he is a Gold Glove center fielder.
You might look at a catch like that and think it was a fluke. But many outfielders work on that play in spring training and during batting practice. It does, though, take a lot of athletic ability. If you’d asked me as a second baseman, “Why are you so good on plays diving to your right?” I couldn’t give you an answer. I just did it. The same goes for outfield plays.
One way to spot the difference between a veteran and a rookie in the outfield is to look for changes in positioning based on knowledge of the hitter and the intricacies of the game. When you see outfielders moving as the count changes, you know these guys are thinking out there.
Let’s consider a straightaway hitter at the plate. If the count goes to 0–2, you are probably going to see that center fielder play the batter a little bit to the opposite field because with two strikes against him, he is not going to have the same swing. He is going to become defensive, likely to shoot the ball the other way.
In 3–0 or 3–1 counts, you’re likely to see the center fielder move the other direction because the batter is probably going to swing more aggressively and pull the ball. The same goes for the right fielder and the left fielder, although the change in their position may be a bit smaller because they have less territory to cover.
Again it depends on the hitter. There are certain hitters who don’t change their swing on an 0–2 count. They are still going for downtown. A home-run hitter like Sammy Sosa is not going to change his swing. He will be the same on 0–2 as he was on 0–0.
The catcher is the only player who faces out at the defense. He will sometimes direct the outfielders; on most teams, though, players on the field are positioned by a coach in the dugout.
The coach who has this responsibility will have the scouting reports and the computer analyses of where hitters on the other team tend to put the ball. Although many veteran fielders are capable of making adjustments on their own, if the coach sees a guy out of position, it’s his job to move him. That’s why you’ll sometimes see coaches on the top step of the dugout trying to get the attention of a fielder.
Some outfielders play deep and race in to try to catch balls hit just over the infield, while others play shallow and are ready to turn around and chase after balls hit toward the fence.
It comes down to preference and ability. For an outfielder the easier thing to do is to put his back against the outfield wall and charge everything. You and I could do that, but a lot of balls are going to fall in front of us or go to the wall to our right or left. The harder way to play the outfield is to play shallow and go back on a ball. To do that you’ve got to have great speed and be able to get a great jump.
The advantage of playing shallow is that you can take away some singles; the danger lies in giving up the extra base hit on balls that get past. But again, it depends on the situation in the game.
If his team has a one-run lead in the ninth inning, the center fielder is probably not going to play very shallow. Instead he is going to be protecting against the double; he doesn’t want to allow a runner in scoring position to tie the game. This is the outfield equivalent of playing the lines in the infield.
When a ball is heading to earth in front of an outfielder, he has to make a split-second decision whether to charge in and try to make a shoestring or diving catch or lay back and let the ball fall in for a hit. It’s the same sort of thing an infielder goes through when he has to decide whether to stay back on a ground ball or try to get it on the first hop.
If his team is tied or one run ahead, the outfielder will want to keep the ball in front of him. He doesn’t want to dive and have the ball get by and let the batter get into scoring position. It’s difficult to do so, though, because a fielder’s natural instinct is to try to catch everything hit toward him. That’s why before the play happens, a player has to go over the situation. Where are the runners, and who are they? What is the score? Do I try to make a tough play, or should I play it safely and catch the ball on a hop?
Cutoff and relay plays are essential parts of baseball but something that many fans may miss because they are concentrating on the runners or watching to see the play at the plate.
What I’m talking about here is a play involving a player getting the ball deep in the outfield and then throwing it to the infield. He may be aiming at the catcher at home plate, but an infielder is supposed to be in position to cut off the throw, redirecting the ball to another base or relaying it to home plate. The idea is to keep base runners from advancing an extra base unnecessarily.
On the infield, depending where the ball has been hit, one player is supposed to be the cutoff man. In general, it goes like this:
• If the ball is down the rightfield line or in the rightfield gap, the second baseman becomes the lead cutoff man.
• If the ball is down the leftfield line or in the leftfield gap, the shortstop is the cutoff man.
Now this is not set in cement. Let’s say the ball goes into the rightfield gap, and the shortstop has a much better throwing arm than the second baseman. If the shortstop can get over to the right side of the infield, some managers have the shortstop become the cutoff man and the second baseman a trailer on the play.
On the other side, though, you’ll never see a second baseman become cutoff man on a ball to left field. It’s always the shortstop.
Remy Says: Watch This
How High Is Up?
The cutoff man should not have to jump to catch the ball because by the time he comes back down, his relay throw would be useless. So if the ball comes in too high, the cutoff man lets it go and the trailer makes the play on it.
Remy Says: Watch This
Outfield Assists
Some parks make it easier for outfielders to get assists on plays in the infield. Fenway is like that in left field, and Yankee Stadium in right field; outfielders can play shallow.
Tris Speaker, the Hall of Fame center fielder for the Red Sox in the early twentieth century, holds the major league record for total assists and is tied for the single-season record with thirty-five in 1909 and again in 1912.
Manny Ramírez, despite his sometimes casual approach on defense, is very quick in getting rid of the ball. He recorded eight assists from left field in 2007. In 2005 he had seventeen from the back corner.
The cutoff man has to decide how far out of the infield to go. If the outfielder has a strong arm, he should make a long throw to the infield and let the cutoff man make the shorter throw to the plate or a base.
The cutoff man takes up his position with his back to the plate. He yells at the outfielder and waves his arms so that as soon as the fielder turns he knows where the cutoff man is. The cutoff man concentrates on taking the throw from the outfield with two hands and getting himself into a throwing position. For that reason the cutoff man needs help from the trailer on where to throw the ball.
The trailer yells, “Third, third, third” or “Home, home, home” or directs the throw wherever the play is going to be. Or, if he wants the cutoff man to hold on to the ball, “Run it in, run it in.”
Outfielders are constantly told, “Hit the cutoff man,” yet they don’t always do it. An outfielder might fall in love with his throwing arm and want to show it off. Or he might just make a bad throw.
On a base hit to right field with a man on first, the fielder might try to throw out a runner going first to third. If the outfielder air mails one over the shortstop, the batter can see how high the throw is, and he’ll keep going on to second base.
There are some situations in which an outfielder is expected to throw through to the plate. For example, if he is coming in on the play, moving toward the plate, and the ball is not hit that deep, a fielder with a strong arm should try to go all the way to the plate. If there’s a man on third and no one else on base, the outfielder will probably try to reach the plate.
If there’s a runner on first, though, the ball should be thrown on a trajectory toward the head of the cutoff man; if the trailer decides he’s not going to get the man at the plate, the trailer tells the cutoff man to throw to another base, not home, to keep another runner from advancing.
Not every throw from the outfield goes to home plate or to a cutoff man.
For example, let’s say that a team has a two-run lead late in the game and the opposing team has a runner on second. On a deep hit to the outfield, there shouldn’t be a play at the plate—instead the throw should go directly to second base to try to keep the batter from advancing to scoring position.
Before each pitch, every fielder is supposed to review in his mind where he will throw the ball if he makes a play. Outfielders also get help from the dugout and from infielders who may point to second base to remind them to try to prevent an unnecessary advance by a base runner. The message here would be: “Forget the guy running home and throw the ball here.”
But many times players get caught up in the action of the play and don’t think. Their normal reaction is to come up throwing and fire home.
Remy Says: Watch This
Off the Wall
If you arrive early for a game at Fenway Park, pay attention during outfield practice to see how the visiting team’s left fielder is working on his game. You’ll often see a coach whacking a ball off the wall, helping the fielder learn how to play the different angles.
Outfielders need to be aware of the idiosyncrasies of the park they’re playing in. Fenway Park, of course, is one of most unusual, having the Green Monster in left field, but there’s also Yankee Stadium with its short right porch and awful oddities like the catwalks hung from the ceiling of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s not just rookies who have problems at Fenway, either. I have seen guys play there for years and still have problems with the park. The wall makes for a strange game. It doesn’t take much to put a ball off the wall, but balls that are crushed can hit halfway up the wall and end up as 300-foot singles. The carom is pretty true off the current leftfield wall; in years past players didn’t know how the ball was going to bounce, depending on which seam it hit.
The most difficult decision for a left fielder at Fenway is judging whether the ball is going to hit the wall or fall just in front of it. That’s why a lot of visiting left fielders play very deep; they figure that if the ball is over their head, it is going to be on the wall and they can come in to play the rebound.
But the better left fielders play shallow at Fenway because they can take away a lot of base hits. They’ve got the experience to recognize whether a ball hit over their head is going to make the wall or not.
At Fenway it’s hard to score from second base on a ball hit to left field if the left fielder is playing shallow. Carl Yastrzemski didn’t have a great throwing arm, but he played shallow and he charged the ball real well.
There’s also the triangle in deep center field at Fenway, where the ball goes forever, 420 feet from home plate. And the foul pole in right field—the Pesky Pole—is just 302 feet away. You’ll see a ball wrap around it for a home run. In another park that’s a foul ball.
Down the third-base line, the wall juts out just past the infield cutout, and a ground ball that would be a double in another park can carom off the wall to the shortstop and end up as a single. The pole in left field—now officially called the Fisk Pole—is just 310 feet away.
In certain circumstances an outfielder can try to deke out a runner. We see that a lot in Boston because of the Green Monster. If a fly ball is hit high in the air, the left fielder may stand in front of the wall and act like he is going to catch it; what he is trying to do is deke a base runner into thinking he is going to make the catch even though the fielder knows the ball is going to hit the wall.
At the last minute the fielder will back off, turn around, and play it off the wall. He’s hoping to freeze a runner at first or second base or maybe even throw out a runner who stayed at first base thinking the ball was going to be caught.
It very seldom works, but it looks good if it succeeds.
Sometimes you can look out to the outfield and see players practicing their swing. That doesn’t happen much in the infield. There is a little bit less to do on every pitch, and some fielders have a tendency to stray a little bit. Rickey Henderson used to have a running conversation with the fans in the left field.
Sometimes I have pity on outfielders because some pitchers take forever to throw the ball. It’s been a horrible inning; they’ve been out there for thirty-five minutes. This is not a snappy ball game where everyone is focusing on every pitch. But on the other hand, I will tell you it’s hard to forget how many outs there are today. It’s up there on the scoreboard and smaller boards at first base and third base. And the infielders are supposed to be reminding each other and the other position players about the number of outs already recorded in the inning.
But mental mistakes do happen and they can be as embarrassing as hell when they do.
In 2003 former Boston Dirt Dog Trot Nixon had a brain cramp in the ninth inning of a one-run game against Anaheim. With runners on first and second and one out, David Eckstein lifted a short pop-up to right field. Nixon caught the ball and tossed it into the stands and the runner on second came all the way around to score. It was ruled a two-base sacrifice fly.