Fielders

Fielders are players designated to play in the field during a game, with responsibilities that center on preventing the offense from scoring and recording outs. They defend territory, field batted or hit balls, and, when appropriate, throw the ball to bases or the wicket. The term is used most often in bat-and-ball sports such as baseball and cricket, but the basic concept appears in other fielding-heavy games as well.

In baseball, nine fielders form the defense, spread across the infield and outfield. Infielders include the first, second, and third basemen, the shortstop, and the pitcher and catcher as part of the battery; outfielders cover left, center, and right fields. Fielders catch fly balls, field grounders, relay plays, tag runners, and throw to bases to force or complete outs, sometimes turning double plays. Defensive alignments and shifts are common in response to hitters. Statistical records for fielders track putouts, assists, errors, chances, fielding percentage, and double plays, as well as specialized metrics for different positions.

In cricket, all fielding team members other than the bowler and wicket-keeper are fielders. They aim to prevent boundaries, stop runs, and dismiss batsmen by catching, stopping shots, or returning the ball quickly to the stumps for run-outs. Common fielding positions include slips, gully, point, cover, mid-off, mid-on, square leg, and long-on/long-off. Key statistics include catches and run-outs, with stumpings attributed to the wicket-keeper. Fielding requires speed, agility, throwing accuracy, and game awareness.

Across both sports, fielders train to improve catching, throwing, communication, and positioning, and teams use analytics to optimize field placement and reduce scoring opportunities.