Editing Baseball positioning (section)

{{Distinguish|Baseball positions}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2009}}
[[Image:baseballpositioning-normal.png|thumb|The dots represent normal depth and lateral positioning for the nine defensive players]]

In [[baseball]] and [[softball]], while there are nine named [[Baseball positions|fielding positions]], players, with the exception of the [[pitcher]] and [[catcher]], may move around freely.  The ''positioning'' for the other seven positions is very flexible, although they all have regular ''depths''—distances from [[home plate]], and sometimes lateral positioning.  A ''shift'' means that a player is playing in a noticeably different location than the norm for his positioning. A fielder who is playing ''shallow'' or ''in'' is playing closer to home plate, while a player playing ''deep'' is playing farther from home plate than normal.