Infielders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The athletes designated to play defensive positions near the bases in a baseball game are known as this group that handles ground balls
2. This term identifies the players who take up positions in the infield of a baseball field, focusing on defensive plays
3. This group refers to the players who primarily occupy positions within the infield during a baseball game while engaging in defensive responsibilities

Etymology: The infield is the diamond-shaped area of a baseball field where the bases sit, and it takes its name from an older sense of "field" meaning open land, as in a farm's cultivated ground. The "in" part is the ordinary English preposition, inherited from Old English, so the compound simply means the part of the field lying inside the bases. Its first element, "field," traces back through Old English "feld" to a Germanic root meaning open, flat country. The "-er" ending is the familiar suffix for a person who does something, here someone who plays in the infield. That suffix reaches English through Middle English "-er" and Old French "-ier", ultimately from Latin "-arius", which marked a worker or occupation. Attaching it to "infield" produced "infielder," a player's role rather than a place, and "infielders" is simply its plural, referring to the group of players covering that area together.