A ball club’s outfield has three major assignments when in the field:

Take a base hit away from a batter whenever possible. (Catch the fly ball).

Cut down the length of base hits. (Hustle and work together to hold the batter and/or runners to the minimum number of bases).

Keep runners from advancing whenever possible. (Throw to the right base; throw strongly and accurately).

Every move the outfielder makes has one of the three points we’ve named as its objective. These suggestions will help:

The outfielder, to repeat a point, should watch the batter and not the pitcher, as the ball is being delivered to the plate. His line of vision should be so adjusted that the top of the batter’s head comes just under the peak of the put-fielder’s cap. (New hats have a little fuzz along the under edge. This should be burned off).

As the batter strides to hit, the outfielder leans forward slightly, raises the heels off the ground and takes one small step forward. He should listen to the sound of the bat meeting ball. With a little experience it will tell him how well the ball has been hit.

On balls driven to right or left, the outfielder uses the “cross-over” step. If he’s going to his right, his first move is to pivot right and take the first step toward the ball with his left foot. The opposite to the opposite side.

The outfielder always breaks fast! On fly balls to his area, he should not-as he starts-try to time his approach to the arrival of the ball. After the ‘”jump”, with runners on base, the outfielder can use some momentum to make a throw. But, if no throw is going to be involved, he wants to be waiting to catch the ball when it comes down. A slow-starting, lazy outfielder is a threat to the success of the ball club. Baseball Training - Read More.