When running won’t get you to the ball perhaps a dive will. Diving for balls is useful when you can recover from the dive in time to throw a runner out at a base or prevent a runner from advancing to another base. Diving for balls that leave you without an opportunity to get an out or prevent the advancement of a runner doesn’t make any sense and risks injury. In figure 6.8 and Defense→Infielder Skills→Diving, Bloopers, and Pop-Ups on the DVD you’ll see how to make a diving catch, but we had our model do so on the grass to decrease the chance of getting abrasions.
