Every fielding position in baseball has a number, and once you know the nine you can read a scorebook, decode a box score and follow what a coach means by "6-3". They're worth ten minutes of your life if your child plays.
| Number | Position | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pitcher | P |
| 2 | Catcher | C |
| 3 | First baseman | 1B |
| 4 | Second baseman | 2B |
| 5 | Third baseman | 3B |
| 6 | Shortstop | SS |
| 7 | Left fielder | LF |
| 8 | Center fielder | CF |
| 9 | Right fielder | RF |
The designated hitter doesn't get a number, because the numbers describe fielding positions and the DH doesn't field. In slow-pitch softball, where there's a tenth fielder, that player is commonly written as 10.
This is the part that trips everyone up. Reading around the infield you'd expect first, second, third, shortstop to run 3, 4, 5, 6 — and instead the third baseman is 5 while the shortstop is 6.
The numbering is a historical convention that predates the modern game's positioning, and the ordering simply stuck. There's no rule you can derive it from; it's a thing you memorise once. The mnemonic most people land on is that the numbers run pitcher, catcher, then the bases in order (1B, 2B, 3B), then shortstop, then the outfield left to right.
A play is written as the sequence of fielders who touched the ball. That's the whole system, and it's remarkably compact.
| Notation | What happened |
|---|---|
| 6-3 | Ground ball to the shortstop, thrown to first base for the out |
| 4-3 | Ground ball to the second baseman, thrown to first |
| 5-3 | Ground ball to the third baseman, thrown to first |
| 1-3 | Ground ball back to the pitcher, thrown to first |
| 4-6-3 | Double play: second baseman to shortstop covering second, then to first |
| 6-4-3 | Double play the other way round: shortstop to second baseman, then to first |
| F8 | Fly ball caught by the centre fielder |
| L4 | Line drive caught by the second baseman |
| P5 | Pop-up caught by the third baseman |
| U3 | Unassisted out by the first baseman |
| E6 | Error by the shortstop |
| K | Strikeout swinging |
| ꓘ (backwards K) | Strikeout looking — the batter didn't swing at strike three |
So "my kid grounded into a 6-4-3" tells you the whole play in five characters: shortstop fielded it, flipped to second for the force, second threw to first to complete the double play.
You don't need any of this to record useful stats for your own child. At-bats, hits, walks and strikeouts give you batting average and on-base percentage, and that's most of the story of a young hitter.
The position numbers matter when you want to score the whole game play by play — which is genuinely satisfying once it clicks, and which our guide to keeping score walks through step by step. Start with the simple version, add the notation when you're ready.
1 pitcher, 2 catcher, 3 first baseman, 4 second baseman, 5 third baseman, 6 shortstop, 7 left fielder, 8 center fielder, 9 right fielder.
The shortstop. It catches people out because the third baseman is 5, so the infield numbers don't run in the order you'd expect walking around the diamond.
A double play in which the shortstop fields the ball, throws to the second baseman covering second base for the first out, and the second baseman throws to first base for the second out.
The numbers identify fielding positions, and the designated hitter doesn't field. In slow-pitch softball, which uses a tenth fielder, that player is usually written as 10.
Yes for the nine standard positions. Slow-pitch softball adds a tenth fielder, commonly recorded as 10.
A strikeout looking — the batter took strike three without swinging. A normal K is a strikeout where the batter swung.