Diving in the Outfield

Many outfielders struggle with knowing when to dive and what balls to dive for. Many
athletes hold back from diving because of the fear of missing the ball. By helping them to
anticipate the path of the ball and building their belief that they have a chance to make a
catch when they dive, you can prepare them to dive when the situation arises.
Your players should use these five cues to understand when they can and should dive for a
ball:
• When a ball is hit in the gap between outfielders or a ball is dying (soft line drive or
blooper that will not travel to the fence if it is not caught) and another outfielder is
there as backup.
• When a low or shallow fly ball is hit between the infielder and the outfielder with no
runners on base or a runner on first base. This ball is the most common one that an
outfielder will dive for and is typically the best ball to dive for as well. The flight of the
ball is just high enough that the player can time her dive and just low enough that the
ball will not travel far if she misses it. In addition, on this play the outfielder will have
a backup to help if the ball does get by her.
• On any ball in foul territory with no runners on base. For the right and left fielders,
foul balls offer a great opportunity to dive. You want to stress to the wing outfielders
that they should always dive for these balls if no runners are on base or if two are out.
If they dive and make the catch with runners on base and less than two outs, the run-
ners can tag up and advance on the play. In some situations, of course, the out is more
valuable than giving up a base on the play.
• In a do-or-die situation with the game on the line. As mentioned previously, the out-
fielders are the last line of defense, so normally they should ensure that they have
backup from another outfielder or that the path of the ball will limit how far it will
travel on the ground if it falls. For a do-or-die play, however, the outfielder does not
have to take into account these two factors—she just needs to know that if she does
not make the catch, the game is probably over.
• With two outs and a runner on third base, an outfielder may dive for a ball (may
depend on the defensive strategy). But with less than two outs, outfielders typically
should not dive for a ball or make a catch in foul territory if they will be unable to
throw out the runner at home on the tag up.

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