What are the defensive responsibilities of a third baseman in baseball?
A third baseman's defensive responsibilities include many. First of all, for any ground ball that is hit to him, his job is to throw the runner out at first base. If there is a runner on first on a ground ball, his job is to figure out whether or not he should throw to second if he's got time for the double play. If not, he's got to throw at first. If there's no one on first or second, he's got a different responsibility, which if it's hit at him with less than two outs then his job is to throw to second base for the double play. If it's hit to his right, his job is to actually field the ball and then step on third base to get the force out there, and then most often he'll then throw across the diamond to first base and get a double play that way. A second huge responsibility to a third baseman is bunting. There are so many plays involving third basemen in bunting that are crucial. First of all, there's a very standard runner on first base whose whole responsibility is the right side on a bunt. When it gets to first and second it becomes very tricky, because what happens is that the bunter has been trained to bunt the ball toward the third baseman and make him field it. He's got a very delicate situation there to either come and get the ball, get the easy out at first, or if it's bunted to where the pitcher can field it and he can get back to third, its a great play to be able to get the force out at third. Again, his responsibilities are many but essentially fielding the ground ball, turning the double plays, and the bunt responsibility are the biggest ones. The last one you would say he is also a relay man, meaning any balls that are hit to the outfield - left field or center field - his responsibility is that he is the cut-off man to home plate.
