Baseball Basics: On the Field

Batter - Each player of the offensive team shall bat in the order that his name appears in his team's batting order. The batter's legal position shall be with both feet within the batter's box. A batter has legally completed his time at bat when he is put out or becomes a runner.

Pitcher - A pitcher is the fielder designated to deliver the pitch to the batter. The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his entire pivot foot on, or in front of and touching and not off the end of the pitcher's plate, and the other foot free.

Catcher - The catcher is the fielder who takes his position back of the home base.

First baseman - A defensive fielder who plays on or near the first-base bag.

Baserunner - If a batter gets on base, his primary responsibility is to advance to scoring position and score a run for his team.

Second baseman - The fielder who plays the infield near the seconid-base bag.

Shortstop - Defensive infielder between second and third base.

Third baseman - Infield defensive fielder who covers the third-base area.

Left field(er) - Defensive outfielder covering area in left field. An outfielder is a fielder who occupies a position in the outfield, which is the area of the playing field most distant from home base.

Center field(er) - Center field is the leader of the outfield and is usually the fatest of the three outfielders. His territory overlaps the other fielders, and they usually defer to his authority.

Right fIeld(er) - Defensive outfielder who occupies a position in right field.

First-base coach - A team member in uniform who is stationed in the coach's box at first base to direct the runners.

Third-base coach - A team member in uniform who is stationed in the coach's box to direct the batter and the runners.

Home plate umpire - Responsible for monitoring strke/ball calls at home plate, etc.

First-base umpire - Responsible for monitoring safe/out calls at first base, check-swing calls of right-handed batters and fair-ball calls down the right-field side.

Second-base umpire - Responsible for calling plays at second base.

Third-base umpire - Responsible for monitoring safe/out calls at third base, check-swing calls of left-handed batters and fair-ball calls down the left-field line.

Mound to home plate distance - The distance between the pitcher's plate and home base (the rear point of home plate) shall be 60 feet, 6 inches.

Base paths/distance - The infield shall be a 90-foot square. When location of home base is determined, with a steel tape measure of 127 feet, 3 3/8 inches in desired direction to establish second base. The distance between first base and third base is 127 feet, 3 3/8 inches. All measurements from home base shall be taken from the point where first- and third-base lines intersect.