samflamont:

We are going to talk about the shortstop and where he should be when the 3rd baseman is the cut.  The third baseman is the cutoff man when there is a runner on second and there is a routine base hit to left field, or there is a runner on third and there is a fly ball into left field.

The shortstop should be covering third base even if there is only a runner on third, why?  Because the hitter should be running hard out of the box and if the ball is dropped there is potential for a play at third and instead of having the third baseman scramble back to the bag he can just file in behind as a back up.  Also, when there are runners on the shortstop should be covering third to stop a runner from going 1st to 3rd due to nobody covering the bag or to stop a runner from tagging up and going 2nd to 3rd for the same reason.  Also, teams will sometimes give a runner up to score a run.  Unless the guy trying to score is the winning run, you want to play for the sure out in this situation.  So if the runner on 2nd tags up even when it is obvious he is going to be out the third baseman can cut it off and toss it to the shortstop who is waiting for the throw.

You must know where to be and you must get there early.  If you are there early you will be set up and ready to make a play.  If you are late then you will be scrambling to get over and your teammate will have to throw the ball to a moving target which is something we want to avoid as much as possible.  Know where you are going and get there, do not lolly gag.