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Source: Major League Baseball's Official Website

We asked New York Mets third baseman Robin Ventura, an All-Star and six-time Gold Glove winner, to give you some tips on becoming a better third baseman.

With runners not on base how do you field your position?

 

In 1999, Robin Ventura led all Major League third basemen with a .980 fielding percentage, with only nine errors in 452 chances.

Depending on if the guy bunts or not -- if the guy bunts you get in real close. And if he doesn't, you get back as far as you feel comfortable. The ball tends to get hit down there pretty hard, so you want to get back -- depending on how fast the runner is determines how far back you can get -- whatever feels comfortable.

On a double play ground ball to the left side of the infield, how do you field your position?

You always want to make sure that once you feel that you're still moving toward second base -- you want to kind of wait for the ball to get close enough to you that you start your movement towards second base. So when you catch it and throw it, it's in one movement.

How do you position yourself when a runner is on second and threatening to steal third base?

Well, the guy on second you just want to make sure that you keep an eye on him if you know he steals -- because if he's stealing you want to wait as long as you can to see if the guy at home plate hits (the ball). But if he doesn't, then you have to be close enough to actually get to third base by the time the catcher throws it. So, you want to kind of cheat a little bit to third base. When (the runner is) fast, they're going to go -- they're not intimidated by you (the third baseman), usually the catcher does that, but you just want to keep an eye on them.

How do you position yourself on a fly ball in leftfield foul territory? Who decides which player will catch the ball there?

The shortstop actually lets you know and usually if the ball is behind you, the shortstop is going to catch it. So, you basically go back in foul territory until he calls it.

When a runner is rounding third and heading home, where do you position yourself when the ball is hit to the outfield?

Usually about 15 feet in from the grass. You want to stand right there and make sure the guy touches third base and be on your toes for the ball coming in.