If you look closely at the ground at this boy's feet, you can see why I have selected f/4.5 as my f/stop for this shooting situation; there's just enough depth of field to 'cover'. Unlike the prior situation of a pitcher-first baseman-baserunner pick off play, a deliberate shot of a pitcher on the mount meant apriori knowledge of my subject's exact position,and so the ultra-high speed 1/5000 second at f/3.5 was deliberately forgone in favor of stopping down to f/4.5 at 1/3000 second,since depth of field is needed more than speed in this situation. Heck 1/3000 will freeze this type of shot easily...heck, this part of a pitch could be stopped at 1/250 with JUST the right timing... This shot ran in B&W in the sports section.