Page "First baseman" Paragraph 20

Every ground ball hit to an infielder becomes a race between the batter-runner and the team in the field ; the fielder must catch the batted ball and throw it to first before the batter can reach the base.

Consequently, part of the first baseman's job is to step toward the incoming ball and stretch his body so that his catching hand makes contact with it as soon as physically possible.

Compared to catching the ball while standing passively on the base, this shaves a fraction of a second from the runner's time to reach base.

When it is thrown too low and bounces before reaching the first baseman, catching the ball is difficult, especially while he is in a " stretch position ".

A throw caught shortly after its bounce, that is, while the baseball's path, rebounding from the turf, is sharply upward, is called a " short hop ".

Since a ball that strikes the ground is always subject to the possibility of encountering a pebble or a rut or a spike-mark that sends it in a radically new direction, it is best that the first baseman catch the ball on the short hop by swiping or scooping the ball as close to the ground surface as possible.

This technique also minimizes the amount of time required to make the putout.