The 6 F's of Outfield Play

The 6 F's of Outfield Play

"You can't win if nobody catches the ball in the outfield. You are only as good as the team you have behind you." - Jim Palmer

Jim Palmer's quote on outfield play is a very good one. The reason being is because the outfield is the last line of defense for a defense. If you think of it this way, this shows the importance of having a quality outfield. If a ball gets past two outfielders and rolls to the wall, this will give the opponent a more advantageous chance to score more runs and to be in scoring position more often. Therefore, having an outfield that knows what it is doing is paramount. 

The system that I have recently created is to help outfielders remember the fundamentals in an easy way. This system is based off of the fantastic infield system Seattle Mariners Infield Coach Perry Hill has created and used for years in Major League Baseball. Coach Hill's system has helped his athletes remember the fundamentals of infield play, and I am hoping this system will do the same for the outfielders that I coach too. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic I haven't been able to put these 6 F's to the test as of yet. With that being said, I am going to go over the 6 F's of outfield play and I hope it will be helpful for all of the readers of this post to collect their thoughts on what they want their outfield system to be. 

The 6 F's are as follows: Feet, Find, First Step, Field, Fire, and Follow Through. Each of these 6 F's will be found in the fundamentals of an outfielder. These 6 F's will also simplify the process for players who are struggling with the fundamentals of outfield play. For example, if the outfielder is not getting a good ready step, then the coach can say "feet" and the outfielder will be reminded to get a better ready step. 

Feet

The first step for an outfielder is their ready step. The stance the outfielders should take is a stance that has the knees bent, hands on their thighs, and the weight of the outfielder on the balls of their feet. An out of sport example would be a defender in basketball. If you put a glove on one of the hands of a defender and put the hands of the defender on their thighs, then that position should look a lot like the proper ready step position for an outfielder. 

The steps to get into the ready position are throwing hand foot steps first and glove hand foot steps second. In other words for a right handed thrower, right foot steps first and left foot steps second. The momentum of the outfielder should be placed on the balls of their feet or the area of the foot that consists of the toes and arch.

(I love this picture because of the bird. Momentum should be moving towards the bird.)

(Visualize a glove on the right hand of this defender and the hands on his thighs and you have a great ready position.)

Find

The next step for the outfielder to understand is the direction of where the ball was batted. The key for the outfielder to find this is by looking into the hitting zone. The hitting zone is the strike zone or the area where the bat will make contact with the pitch. The outfielder should have timed up his ready step by the time the pitch has made contact with the bat so that the outfielder won't have a late start finding the batted ball. 

First Step

The first step is the most crucial part of this process. The first step needs to be in the direction of where the ball was hit. The outfielder cannot afford to step back and then go. If the outfielder does this then there is a chance that the defender does not get an out on a batted ball that is a 50/50 chance of being caught or a hit. 

If the outfielder is fooled  on the direction of where the ball is going,  he will swivel his head and hips to the direction that the ball is going. Regardless of having the correct or incorrect first step, each step  taken MUST be in the direction of where the ball is going. 

Field

The next F is field. For this section I will be going over how to field different kinds of batted balls. Fundamentally to field a routine ground ball that reaches the outfield, the outfielder will want to field the grounder on the outside glove hand foot. The big toe is the deepest that the outfielder wants to field the ground ball. Once the ball is fielded, the outfielder will push the glove out, swivel his glove hand shoulder to his throwing hand shoulder and transfer the ball to the throwing hand. While transitioning the ball from the glove to the throwing hand, the lower half can do one of two things. The lower half can have the throwing hand side foot take a step and hop to gain momentum for a strong throw (this is called a crow hop) , or the glove hand side foot can step behind the glove hand side foot and as the glove hand side foot plants the outfielder will be lined up with the target (this is called a Pro step). The preference is up to the outfielder, but most of the outfielders I have worked with like the Pro step technique. 

When fielding hard hit grounders, the outfielder will need to body up the grounder much like an infielder. The reason why the outfielder will do this is because he does not want the ball to get passed him. On the high school level you may want your outfielders to catch all grounders this way if the playing surface has high grass or a rough surface. The ball getting past the outfielder cannot happen. 

Fire

In this phase of the 6 F's, this is all about the throw. When we have grip of the baseball we want to fire the baseball to our target. The target in this case is the logo on the ball cap of the cutoff man. Throwing the ball on a line drive to the ball cap of the cutoff man will ensure two things. First, it ensures a strong throw for the cutoff man to catch and transition to either throw or run back in to the infield. Secondly, this will ensure a strong throw that goes through the cutoff man and to the intended base to try to get the lead runner out. A key to having a strong throw is to use the thumbs down motion when breaking the hands in the transition phase. The thumbs down technique will organize the body to where it will be in a straight line to the intended target. 

Follow Through

The last F is follow through. This is an important aspect of the throw. To ensure a strong finish with the throw, all of the momentum should take the body of the outfielder towards the target that the outfielder threw to. If we don't take all of our momentum to the target, then the throw won't be as strong and worse can cause arm soreness or injury. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the 6 F's are intended to be simple enough to implement and understood by Little League players, and solid enough that it will be helpful to the upper levels of baseball. This process could not have happened without the influence of masterful Infield Coach for the Seattle Mariners, Perry Hill. If you have not looked into Coach Hill's 6 F's of Infield Play, I strongly recommend that you do. With all of this being said, this system is all about helping the players understand the fundamentals of outfield play clearly to have success on the playing field.