Baseball Clinic – The Cut-off Man

Baseball can be played, watched and enjoyed on many levels, from the major leagues, Little League and by the amateur who cheers for a favourite team and can quote hundreds of statistics (and will do so, if you don't stop him!).
Among the rules (and everyone knows that baseball has plenty of rules!), -- is one you may hear at a practice session or game: "Remember to hit the Cut-Off Man."
But, wait -- if you’re knowledge of baseball is on the elementary level, you may not be aware of what a ‘Cut-off Man’ is. It means that, after a fly ball to the outfield, caught or not, the outfielder's throw back to the infield should not be as an arc: it should low enough to be available to the Cut-Off Man.
Most of the broadcasters assume that you already know it, so here's our chance to discuss this play.
And, we’ll use an anecdote, as told to me.
My cousin -- whom some otherwise sane people call my ‘twin,’ because we have sometimes been mistaken for each other! -- has coached youngsters in hockey and baseball skills for many years.
One summer he was managing a young team who were often victims of opposing teams running up the score. Some of the outfielders were small for their age group, and had not yet developed strong throwing arms. So he decided to teach them all about the ‘Cut-off Man.’
He began by drawing a play on a signboard; then he set up a situation where they would practice it and execute it: there can be any number of outs, but there could be a runner on first or second.
In our example, there is a runner on second. The batter hits a fly ball which lands into the gap between left and centre field, and the left fielder picks it up. The runner has started for third and may have plans to try for home plate. First item: the outfielder has to throw the ball back to the infield.
My cousin’s ploy was to line up the shortstop and the pitcher where either could catch --cut-off -- the throw from the outfielder. The catcher – the only player who can see the entire situation as it unfolds, and the key to this play – can then shout the number “6” for their shortstop, who has run out to help shorten the throw, or the number “1” for the pitcher, to indicate who should ‘cut-off’ the ball coming in. That infielder can either throw to third base, to tag the runner from second, or throw to second base, to tag the batter / runner, who is probably told by his first-base coach that “we can run against these guys!”
(And please, don’t confuse the clinic by telling me that “Who’s on first!”)
Or, the catcher can call out “2”, his own number, and tag a foolhardy runner trying to run home. Any player whose number is not called, moves aside to let the ball go by.
For days, over a couple of weeks, they practiced that play over and over again, and there were some predictable grumblings about why they had to work so hard ... on a play they might never use.

But, during one late season game, when playoff positions were on the line -- and many of their parents and friends are in the stands -- they finally got their chance to try the play: during a tight, low-scoring game, with one out, the situation came up.
With a runner on first, the batter hits fly ball to left field, the left fielder doesn't catch the ball, but retrieves it and throws it back in.
The left infield players all lined up, with the shortstop halfway, to relay. The catcher called the pitcher's number, who cut off the relay throw. He threw to third, where the third baseman tagged the runner out, then the third baseman threw to second baseman, to get the batter/runner trying to stretch his single!
Double play, 7-6-1-5-4; inning over!
All that work had paid off. The players, somewhat dazed at first, ran off the field laughing and sharing high-fives with each other and their manager!
Those young players realized they had learned a set of valuable skills and could work as an effective, cohesive team.
And they had helped keep opposing teams from thinking they could run up the score!