Outfield positioning

It's always been a pet peeve of mine to see those worn out patches of grass in little league outfields. Some of that is unavoidable but a lot of that is the outfielders simply not moving the whole time they're in the field.

We talk about a concept called playing the count. This is a general concept we use throughout the course of the game and it always is in effect unless we put a mandatory "no doubles" defense on. In that case, all outfielders should play very deep so nothing goes over their head.

If the hitter is in an advantage count (1-0, 2-1, 3-1) we shade pull side and a little deeper. When the count is disadvantage we shade opposite field and in. A lot of cheap hits can be taken away using this technique.

We also tell our pitchers that if a batter hits a 0-2, 1-2 pitch over the outfielders head you probably shouldn't be looking at the outfielder to blame.

The next time you are at a game try and see if the outfielders are "playing the count."