5-man Personnel Question

J

JPritch

Addicted to Softballfans
I've been reading through some of the old posts on 5-man IF. Gonna have my squad give it a shot in some upcoming practices just to see if it's something we want to do or not.

I had a question about personnel though. Our fastest most athletic and strongest arm guy plays SS for us. Does he need to stay there, or move to the middle infield position for 5-man? There is a big drop off in speed and range from him and the rest of our IF.

Also, our best OF plays LF for us. Does he need to move over to CF in 5-man?

Thanks!
 
Easton4lyfe

Easton4lyfe

Outstanding Bad Dealer
All i play is 5 man you need a good pitcher to pitch to his defenses strength as far as you're Of goes id move the fastest guy you have to CF he and you're pitcher is the most important part of your 5 Man defense hopes this help bro!
 
ilyk2win

ilyk2win

Addicted to Softballfans
JPritch said:
I've been reading through some of the old posts on 5-man IF. Gonna have my squad give it a shot in some upcoming practices just to see if it's something we want to do or not.

I had a question about personnel though. Our fastest most athletic and strongest arm guy plays SS for us. Does he need to stay there, or move to the middle infield position for 5-man? There is a big drop off in speed and range from him and the rest of our IF.

Also, our best OF plays LF for us. Does he need to move over to CF in 5-man?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Not quite as black and white as some like to make it....nor can every team run it effectuvely.

Some things to consider:
Could your LF make the switch to CF (different read/jump)
Could your SS make the change to MI.....some simply can't
The throw from deep SS is still further than any throw a MI will have to make
All 5 infielders need to be able to field a ground ball or you're just giving up extra doubles in the OF for nothing (conceptually)
Is your P & MI smart enough to make in-game adjustments (e.g. - don't always have to play on the "pull" side)
Does your field have fences

IMO - you don't "have" to have 3 fast guys to run a 5-man defense.....but naturally it helps. You do "have" to have a good P, a good CF and at least 2 good infielders to be "good" at it. Positioning of all OF and the 3 middle infielders (2B, SS, MI) is key.

Also, a lot of teams struggle with who takes cuts from the OF in different situations.....and sometimes 2B is even left unattended. If done properly, you always have a "back up" in case the throws coming from the OF get away. Learn from the teams who do it well.
 
B

baldgriff

Lead Oompah Loompah....
Your MF needs to have a quick turn. My MF last year had a good glove and average arm, but his catch/release on DP's was real fast and on the money. If its a slow turn you may not get the DP's you are hoping for.
 
nutmegs

nutmegs

IDGAFOS
Easton4lyfe said:
All i play is 5 man you need a good pitcher to pitch to his defenses strength as far as you're Of goes id move the fastest guy you have to CF he and you're pitcher is the most important part of your 5 Man defense hopes this help bro!
Click to expand...
Pretty much sums it up here. And if you middle man can't field very well or throw then it's a complete waste. ground balls should be automatic DPs. And pitcher and middle need to communicate so that after chucking the pitcher can cover the opposite middle gap.
 
rhound50

rhound50

Rec Coed Superstar
Your comment about the skills dropping off between your SS and your next best IF makes me wonder if this is going to work for you guys. To play a good 5 man you need to have 5 good infielders. I've seen far to many teams go to a 5 man and move a guy who is really bad to 2b and move a decent 2b to their 5 man. If you don't have 5 solid infielders don't bother, you are just going to make more work for your outfielders, if you don't have a pitcher good enough to pitch to a 5 man don't bother. If your 5 man isn't good enough to add at least one extra double play per game its not worth it. One of the other things that often gets overlooked a lot in playing a 5 man is your 2b. You play 3 on the pull side for most righthanded hitters, this means the majority of the time your 2b is alone on the right side of the IF. This means two things first he needs to be able to cover more ground, the 3 on the pull side are all pretty much playing 3b. Second hitters are going to try to hit away from the shift which means your 2b is likely going to get tested. Sticking your normal 2b at 5 man and sticking a fat guy with no range at 2b is a mistake I see a lot of teams make when they are trying to learn to play a 5 man.

The single most important thing is having a pitcher who can pitch to a 5 man and communicate with the 5 man where the he is going to be playing. Your CF should also be paying attention to the 5 man and if the 5 man is playing pull the CF should be shading to LCF. This put a lot of extra pressure on the pitcher to and try to force the hitter to hit into the teeth of the defense. Nothing kills a 5 man alignment faster than a pitcher throwing outside to a 5 man defense playing the hitter to pull.
 
Captain10

Captain10

E skills playing D Ball
LF needs to go to centerfield and your best infield arm needs to be at short while your best fielder/quickest DP turner needs to play 5th man. As was already said, the short stop is going to consistently making longer throws than the 5th man.
 
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