One of the most misunderstood terms in baseball is the concept of going halfway on a fly ball. Many times you will hear coaches, depending on the situation, telling a base runner something to the effect of, “Go on the ground, halfway on a ball in the air, freeze on a line drive.” Or, after a fly ball is hit, you might hear a base coach yell, “halfway, halfway!”
 

If the team is well-coached and has practiced base running situations consistently throughout the year, the base runner in one of these instances most likely is going to understand what he should do. “Halfway” is a simple way of telling a player to get as far off the base as possible so that if the ball is caught by the fielder he can make it back to the original base without getting doubled up.

For younger teams that don’t get to practice as often and don’t have the time to cover base running situations as thoroughly, the term “halfway” – from an offensive standpoint – can be confusing.

“Halfway” doesn’t always mean go exactly halfway. The first thing to understand is the general situation in which the concept comes into play. Any time there are fewer than two outs in an inning and a fly ball or pop-up is hit that so that it is not possible or appropriate for a base runner to tag up, that runner should get as far off the base as possible so that he still can get back if the ball is caught. By doing this, the runner might allow himself to advance more than one base if the ball is misplayed by the fielder while still avoiding the double play if the ball is caught.