From the Coaches Corner: Calling the Ball

Hey Slugs - As someone who has suffered a little vocal paralysis in the outfield, I thought it might be good to go over some general rules of thumb for calling a fly ball. For starters, staying silent when a ball is headed for you (as I have been known to do) isn't a good idea. Calling a ball if you're going to catch it minimizes injury risk and maximizes the number of outs we get...all good things.

1. Call it if you’re going to catch it. This claims the ball. First person to call it has priority. Be confident here. It’s doubtful that there’s anyone on the team who hasn’t dropped a ball, so don’t worry about that. Physical errors will happen, but it’s frustrating to have balls drop because of miscommunication. Also, calling it greatly reduces the chances of someone concentrating on the ball barreling into you.

2. Defer to the person calling the ball. If someone else calls it and you didn’t, let them have it. Move out of the way in the direction opposite to which you heard them.

3. Don’t call someone off if they’ve called it. See rule Number 2. We don’t want to deny anyone the opportunity to make a catch if they’ve called it.

4. Don’t call it if you’re in doubt. See rule Number 1. Only call it if you’re going to catch it. If you have a marginal shot at catching it, you don’t want to discourage someone who has a better shot.

5. Be loud and clear. Generally, “MINE!,” “I GOT IT!,” or “BALL!” will get the job done. You can also yell “HELP!” if something goes awry so someone with a better angle can jump in. Yelling anything else usually results in confusion. And you have to be loud enough to be heard by people running at full speed, with heart pounding and breathing heavily.

6. If two people call it at the same time: Priority in the OF goes to the CF. If the CF isn’t involved, LF has priority. In the infield, SS has priority. But remember, this is only if two people call it at the same time. If the RF calls it before the CF, it’s still the RF’s ball. If it’s between the IF and the OF, it’s typically much, much easier for the OF to catch the ball because they’re not running backwards. But really, our problem has rarely been too many people calling the ball, and this is a little confusing - so focus on 1-5 and we'll make some serious strides.

-Coach Tam

(beware, this may become a recurring feature on slugssoftball.blogspot.com)