Baseball Fielding: Footwork For Outfielders - Video Transcript

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Coach John Marshall: The basic position for an outfielder is also an athletic position. His weight should be on the balls of his feet, with his feet about shoulder-width apart. His feet should be pointed slightly outward, so that he's ready to react to a batted ball to his right or to his left.

When moving to go to a ball, we use three basic steps: a crossover, a jab step and a drop step. For a ball batted in front of him, we're going to use a jab step. The jab step, when we're in our athletic position, ready to field the ball, we're going to come in on the ball. We're going to stay low to react to the ball wherever it may go – if it takes a bounce, for example.

For a ball batted over the player's head, he's going to use a drop step. For a ball batted over his right side, he's going to drop step to his right; moving backwards to field the ball, while watching the flight of the ball the entire way. For a ball batted to his left and over his shoulder, he's going to use a left-handed drop step.

For a ball hit left or right, we're going to use a crossover step – from our starting position, with our weight balanced and our feet pointed out slightly. To react to a ball batted to the right, a crossover step, pushing off of the right foot and throwing the left leg over to move to the ball. To a ball batted to the left, push off of the left foot, and throw the right foot over to move to our left.
 

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