Baseball is a team game, and one of the hardest parts of being a coach is trying to convince a young player that the team will be most successful by playing a certain position. As a coaches we can pick up on different aspects of your game that tell us you would make an excellent infielder, pitcher, catcher or outfielder, allowing the team to become more successful. This is especially true for outfielders, because a lot of times players feel that playing the outfield is boring, or worse, a punishment.
But lets think about some of the greatest players to every play the game: Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Henry Aaron, Ty Cobb, Ted Williams... just to name a few. The list goes on with modern era all-stars in Vlad Gurrero, Jason Bay, Ken Griffey Jr, Ichiro Suzuki etc etc. all of whom were/are outfielders.
What skills made the outfield attractive to these greats? Being the strongest hitter perhaps; some of these guys were not only the best hitters on their team, but they have gone down in history as some of the greatest hitters of all time.
What about having the strongest arm? One of the most exciting plays in baseball is a close throw on a 'first-to-third' or stretching a double into a triple with the ball just beating the runner to the bag. Roberto Clemente had one of the best right-field arms in all of history!
How about being the fastest runner on the team? Tracking down a long fly ball to the gap or, robbing a batter of a home run will get cheers from the crowd and even the other team, every time. Outfield speed also carries over to speed on the basepaths, so if you are best suited for the outfield, you stand a chance at leading your team in steals as well.
Playing anywhere in the outfield demands extra focus, and good concentration however. In fact, when you have your ace pitcher on the mound, sometimes it can be down right boring. But even in that situation there are lots of things you can be doing to keep yourself in the game. You have to keep on your toes to back-up the infileder's grounders as well as overthrows. Even if the ball isn't hit to you, it is important to help out your fellow outfielders position themselves correctly to match the batter. For example, if a right-handed batter is up to the plate, he is likely to pull the ball so the left fielder should position himself a few steps deeper in the field, and the right fielder should take a few steps in. The same is true for a left handed batter, where the right fielder should play a few steps deeper and the left fielder a few steps shallower.
The center fielder is the boss of the outfield, and it is your job to let your guys know what to do, and if you are both calling for a fly-ball, center fielders get priority. The same is true when an infielder is heading out to catch a fly ball. If you as an outfielder can get to it, it is your job to call him off, and he has to listen to you!
The idea here is to not become discouraged if your coach sends you out to the field, take advantage of the opportunity to show off your skills. Just think about all the baseball greats that have made their mark playing the field.
