Do you love the most responsibility on the field and possibly everything hanging in the balance of how well you can judge fly balls? If you answered yes to the previous question, than center field is definitely the position that is calling your name. Playing the position of center fielder can be full of surprises, you just have to be well-disciplined, and know enough about the game of baseball to know what to do in those certain surprise situations. As a center fielder, the nickname “King of the outfield” comes from how the position is played and being in charge of quite a handful in clutch defensive situations, like calling off the left fielder or the right fielder if the ball is close and you are certain you will make the play. It is also the center fielder’s obligation to back up the short stop, second basemen, left fielder and the right fielder when the ball is hit their way.
Being the king of the outfield means having a short memory when making a mistake, paying close attention to each hitters tendency of how they put the ball in play, having the speed to cover the most ground when needed in order to run down high, hard hit balls, and flashing some leather and laying out for shallow line drives or bloopers. The position of center fielder is usually one of the most solid defensive players on the team while wielding a strong arm to gun down base runners trying to tag up from second to third base, third base to home plate, and in some cases depending on the way the ball is caught or caught at in the field, a runner tagging from first base to second base. They are also usually one of the fastest players on the team. Even with speed, it still takes a great heads up jump on fly balls to be in the right spot at the right time. All of these responsibilities of the center fielder come with an immense amount of practice and training. Professional baseball players like Mike Trout, robbing a home run in the picture above, don’t just wake up one morning and decide they can make plays of that caliber. It takes a true dedication to the craft and a strong mental mindset that is prepared for just about anything when the pressures on. If you have a dream journey to one day step foot onto a big league baseball field in a professional uniform, and have your skip write your name in the lineup card at the Center field spot, than it will take the mastery of everything that is listed above and then some. Here is a link to a video that gives you a live look at the responsibilities of the Center fielder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIr13M29zDk