anyone use their 3Bman as the cutoff man rather than the 1Bman? if so any problems? can your SS get to 3rd to cover in time on a ball hit up the middle that he dives for? thx in advance

First of all your assumeing that the ball is going to be fielded by the centerfielder and not be booted or get into the gap. That is why the ss or the 2b must be the cut man and the other must take second to stop the hitter from reaching second on a single. That eliminates ss from covering third. And no a ss that is going deep into the hole to make a play is not going to recover in time to cover 3b. It just does not make sense. Runner on first single up the middle infielders are at dp depth which has them shading the bag up the middle. Left side of bag ball hit ss is cut man. 2b has bag. Primary cut is 3b secondary cut is 2b. First starts rotateing towards mound area in case it turns into a cut 4 pitcher rotates towards third for back up if runner on first attempts to go to third. Basic baseball works well no need to change it.

Im sorry I misread your question I though you had runner on first and single up the middle. Still no need to change this play. Left of bag ss is cut. Right of bag 2b is cut. Primary cut is 4 secondary cut is 2. Its very easy for the 1b to get in posistion for cut 4. Why would you want the 3b to be the cut man anyway? And if the ss covers 3b and the 2b goes out for the cut who is covering 2b if the runner attempts to turn the single into a double?

Coach May,
Don't understand your reasoning for the SS or the 2nd being the primary cut for a simple relay w/ a runner on 2nd, that should be the 1st baseman. I think the reason it can't be the 3rd baseman is the example you gave of him diving up the middle and not being able to get to 3rd.

why would you use a cutoff man (SS in your example) for a routine single to CF?

the reason we are considering this is we have a very inexperienced 1Bman who doesnt throw well and has heavy feet. Our 3Bman is a senior who is very quick and accurate.

When considering this play we are weighing importance of 1) if 3Bman is the cut-man: a good relay to the plate vs.a possible wide-turn play at 3B with a late SS, 2) if 1Bman is the cut-man: a poor relay to the plate vs. SS in position if the runner takes a wide turn

Because no single to cf is routine especially with a runner on second base. If you have no one as a cut off what if the ball gets by the cf and rolls to the fence. First base is your cut man to 4 spliting the difference somewhere around the mound. SS or 2b has the bag and one of them is the cut man for cf just in case the ball is booted. If he fields the ball clean then he just makes his throw through the bag to 1b for a cut four. If the runner attempts to score from second. If the runner holds at third then the throw is cut at 2b by the 2b or ss. I believe that you would just assume that the ball is going to be fielded and not send one of your middle inf to be a cut just in case. There is never a routine hit especially when runners are in scoring posistion.