Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the positional relationship and verbal communication between two baseball outfielders for deciding who will catch a ball hit between players. The participants were eight collegiate baseball players (4 center fielders and 4 right fielders). The present study was conducted in an actual baseball field, a knocker hit a grounder or fly ball between the center and the right fielders, and the participants were asked to judge which player (center or right fielder) should catch the ball and then one of them actually caught the ball. As results, when the distance from the bat-ball impact point to the catching position was long (2 meters or more in this study), the decisions about which player was responsible for catching the ball depended on the positional relationship of the players and the direction of the ball. Mainly, the player who had the shorter distance from the position at the bat-ball impact to the catching position caught the ball. Additionally, to communicate, the players will call to each other. Especially, it was frequently observed that after one player declared his intention to catch the ball, the nonball catcher gave instructions to the other player. Furthermore, the timing of the call was changed according to the player’s positional relationship and the direction of the ball. In particular, the call was made at a later timing when the ball was nearly in the middle of the two players.
