diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseFile.java b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseFile.java
index 84af7e7838af..b566b77e1331 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseFile.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/BaseFile.java
@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@ public Object get(int i) {
       case 16:
         return sortOrderId;
       case 17:
-        return pos;
+        return fileOrdinal;
       default:
         throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unknown field ordinal: " + pos);
     }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestManifestReader.java b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestManifestReader.java
index b6a7f47e0dfb..8061e33f5efa 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestManifestReader.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/apache/iceberg/TestManifestReader.java
@@ -128,6 +128,7 @@ public void testDataFilePositions() throws IOException {
       long expectedPos = 0L;
       for (DataFile file : reader) {
         Assert.assertEquals("Position should match", (Long) expectedPos, file.pos());
+        Assert.assertEquals("Position from field index should match", expectedPos, ((BaseFile) file).get(17));
         expectedPos += 1;
       }
     }
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@ public void testDeleteFilePositions() throws IOException {
       long expectedPos = 0L;
       for (DeleteFile file : reader) {
         Assert.assertEquals("Position should match", (Long) expectedPos, file.pos());
+        Assert.assertEquals("Position from field index should match", expectedPos, ((BaseFile) file).get(17));
         expectedPos += 1;
       }
     }