Infield Alignment

My DD has been offered a spot on 12U travel team and is practicing with them now. Practices have been great for her. Team is vocal and her situational awareness has improved greatly.

I want to understand why he places his infielders where he does. 1st and 3rd are "normal", a couple of big steps off the foul line and 2-3 steps inside the baseline. What confuses me are 2nd and SS. He has them exactly midway between bases and a step inside the baseline.

I always default to about 3-4 steps closer to second and behind the baseline.

I want them back further because they have more field to cover and this gives them more reaction time.

I then want them closer to second so the middle of the field is better covered.

His teenage son, good baseball player, was calling scenarios and hitting balls. I was watching for one hard hit up the middle to see what the coach would do. First time he hit one that passed 2nd base about 4 ft to the right, his son yelled, "Let it go, sorry about that"! So, I realized they weren't going to practice any hits to the middle of the field. Pitcher was in the circle fielding busts and slow hit balls.

Coaches Infield:

My infield :

This coach has great practices where everyone works hard and learns. I'm wondering if I have a wrong idea for infield setup and would like to hear why one is better than the other. Everyone knows you will pull in or push back the infield if you have some 's scouting info, I'm just asking about the place you take when you first run on the field.

Thanks.

Nice visual aids!

It varys with runners.

With no one on base I actually would like to combine your two.

Neutral left to right like coach, behind baseline like yours.

I see rec teams all the time playing 15 feet in front of the baselines and bloopers drop in all day. Play deeper so you can cover more ground as long as you teach them to charge the ball and they have decent arms.

It depends...on hitters, situations, pitching location etc.

Yours is probably more of what I would call a default, so SS and 2B can use their range to get to balls in shallow outfield.

quincy said:

Nice visual aids!

Click to expand...

Thanks! You can see I put a lot of work into creating those!

Our spring coach taught the girls to shift depending on the batter. Size, hand orientation, last at bat if applicable.

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djcarter1966 said:

It depends...on hitters, situations, pitching location etc.

Yours is probably more of what I would call a default, so SS and 2B can use their range to get to balls in shallow outfield.

Click to expand...

This ^^^

We have "regular play", which looks a lot like the second pic. The first pic resembles something we might do on a bases-loaded situation to get the out at home. We also have a lot of variations/adjustments based on the situation (runners, outs, pitch location).

Never play your middle IF in unless it's it's bases loaded and the winning run is on third (less than two outs). This isn't baseball! They are already playing in!

At 12u, I think the coach's setup is not bad, but it really depends on a number of things. If 1st base charges for a bunt, 2nd needs to make it to 1st, If your 3rd baseman is in, with a runner on 2nd we use short to cover 3rd. Also arm strength can be a big issue, the ball needs to get to the player, be fielded, and the throw needs to reach 1st in 3-3.5 seconds. Your extending the time on 2 of the 3 when you play back. The weaker the arm at short the closer they need to play.