How deep to play shortstop?

[Beeg]

DD plays SS for her 14U team (and also pitches), and I feel she plays too deep and missed a few out opportunities. I found several baseball instructions but none for softball.

Her reasoning to play deep is to get the deeper fly balls, since the outfielders behind her do not have great range. Since they moved up to 14U in the fall, they are seeing more power hitters. My reasoning is if the ball gets hit behind her, let it be a single (if it is too far for her to get it.) Yet if it is an easy ground ball, she is too far to make the out (she did throw several to 1st and missed the out opportunity.)

How deep should she play? I want to give her exact instructions as to how many steps she should take from the 2B-3B base line. I am thinking 3 is the max # of steps. What do you suggest?

 

[Long Baller]

As a general rule of thumb, in the baseline. A few steps in front for slappers and a few steps behind for hitters that are lacking speed. Obviously, this changes as situations change

 

[radness]

DD plays SS for her 14U team (and also pitches), and I feel she plays too deep and missed a few out opportunities. I found several baseball instructions but none for softball.

Her reasoning to play deep is to get the deeper fly balls, since the outfielders behind her do not have great range. Since they moved up to 14U in the fall, they are seeing more power hitters. My reasoning is if the ball gets hit behind her, let it be a single (if it is too far for her to get it.) Yet if it is an easy ground ball, she is too far to make the out (she did throw several to 1st and missed the out opportunity.)

How deep should she play? I want to give her exact instructions as to how many steps she should take from the 2B-3B base line. I am thinking 3 is the max # of steps. What do you suggest?

Long Baller gave simple and good advice.
Reminder, Arm strength can be a factor if choosing a deeper set position.
*Consider more the speed of fastpitch. The quickness plays need to be finished by.
60' base path.
Much smaller entire field size.

At ss continue working on range forward and back & especially cutting off L/R angles.
Outfielders will need
(if anything)
Good eye judgement and sprinting for those pop up inbetweeners.

 

[HunterMO]

DD plays SS for her 14U team (and also pitches), and I feel she plays too deep and missed a few out opportunities. I found several baseball instructions but none for softball.

Her reasoning to play deep is to get the deeper fly balls, since the outfielders behind her do not have great range. Since they moved up to 14U in the fall, they are seeing more power hitters. My reasoning is if the ball gets hit behind her, let it be a single (if it is too far for her to get it.) Yet if it is an easy ground ball, she is too far to make the out (she did throw several to 1st and missed the out opportunity.)

How deep should she play? I want to give her exact instructions as to how many steps she should take from the 2B-3B base line. I am thinking 3 is the max # of steps. What do you suggest?

In terms of depth I agree with Long Baller. Your DD cannot play her position correctly that deep. She can’t worry about what she can’t control....which in this case sounds like weaker outfield. She has to worry about doing her job to the top of her abilities and that starts with proper positioning. Remind her....It’s not called “long stop” for a reason.......

As far as how far off 2B.....maybe 3 or 4 steps? Depends on the hitter, how well DD reads hits and how quick she is. Other factors are how off the foul line/base is 3B playing? Or where the runners are on base and where the inning is in outs. Example: If there are runners on 1B and 3B. In most cases you are just going to give up the 2B steal. Because as soon as that throw down happens the 3B runner is going. So SS wouldn’t play close to 2B for the pick off. At least in my experience.

 

[Strike2]

I'm also not a fan of playing too deep, but it really depends. Playing further back offers more opportunity to field a grounder in the gaps, but the #1 factor in routine positioning is getting an out at 1B. For younger players (12U and below), somewhere close to the baseline usually works. I'm assuming that any SS has a decent arm, so that can move back as they get older and stronger. In college, most SS play very deep unless they're playing for a throw Home. For HS age(14U or above), 2-3 steps back from the baseline is reasonable. However, if a SS is fielding routine grounders and not getting anyone but the slowest of runners out at 1B, it's likely that they're too far back. I'd even argue that if it takes a perfect effort to get an average runner at 1B, the SS is too far back.

 

[mmeece]

I wouldn't get too specific in my advice for exactly where to position her, but if she's missing outs at 1B on routine plays then she's too deep. Either she's too deep for those specific hitters or too deep for her arm, but either way she needs to move in. Even in college ball the girls who start deep tend to move in on the pitch and aggressively charge ground balls that aren't hit hard. If anyone needs to change their position to get outs on the shallow outfield pop ups it's the OF. Make hitters hit it over their heads and earn a hit. When they start to do it consistently, move them back.

 

[murphdog]

By 14U the outfielders should be trying to get those balls. DD is an outfielder and hates when the infielders try to go back on those types of fly balls because they rarely get them and they get in her way. If the outfielders don’t have great range the coach should be working on that instead of expecting the infielders to get those balls

 

[Long Baller]

A couple of other thoughts also:
-Bloop singles are a thing. There is a no-man's land between infield and outfield that the ball will drop into. Defensive positioning is a trade-off. If you move to defend the bloop, you run the risk of giving up hits elsewhere. However, quality middle infielders must have a pretty deep range to drop-step on pop-ups.
-If routing plays are "too close" for comfort, then you need to look into improving the players fielding/throwing mechanics. As the quality of play increases, you need to "work through" the ball and get the throw off more quickly. Sitting back on grounders or pumping the ball will give up infield singles.

 

[CoachJD]

"As deep as you can and still get the batter-runner out" is a pretty good rule of thumb. It sounds like she's too deep to do that fairly often, so she needs to move up for now.

While increasing arm strength is possible, it's also not easy. But how fluid is she in fielding her position? How much time does she waste in transferring the ball from glove to hand? How quickly (not rushed) does she get rid of the ball? Does she have good throwing mechanics? Is she maximizing efficiency? That can go a long way to make up for a lack of arm strength.

ALSO... if her concern is catching pop-ups behind her, work on that. If she gets good at tracking those pop-ups, she might feel even more comfortable not playing so far back.

What I love about this question is that there's no exact right answer, but it gives you a chance to assess her strengths and weaknesses and then adjust in a way that maximizes her ability to get outs. Very few of us are perfect athletes. We all have limitations. Figure out what hers are, and while working to make them strengths, hide them as much as you can.

 

[Gambler Bob]

Not the best video for showing depth at shortstop but if you watch enough of the video you will see that she sets up at all different depths depending on the batter.

So many variables depending on arm strength, footwork and how quickly the shortstop can transition to releasing the ball. A good shortstop should be able to be 4-5 steps behind the baseline for a right handed hitter that does not look like a speed demon.