9 Baserunning
Rules to Win More Games
By: Cindy Bristow
Have you worked really hard
on your team's hitting; only to get baserunners on base that simply run
into outs! It's enough to make your head pop off! But what can you do about
it? Learn 9 things you can teach your baserunners so they know when they
should advance and when they shouldn't, when they should take a chance
and when they should play it safe!
Decisions are skills that
need to be practiced as much as the skills those decisions are used with.
As coaches we're pretty good at helping our players practice the skills
of hitting and pitching and fielding and throwing and baserunning. But
how about practicing the decisions that often go along with using those
skills? Practicing those is different, but that doesn't mean it has to
be harder. Here's a great list of 9 Baserunning Basics that will help give
your Runners a Clue!
Let's start with teaching
your players the 6 Essential Rules of Baserunning. These rules can be practiced
during batting practice by putting runners on base as one of your batting
practice stations. Each player needs a copy of these rules, they need to
have them thoroughly explained, and they need to practice them at each
practice.
6 ESSENTIAL BASERUNNING RULES:
-
On Groundballs:
-
Must Go If Runner Behind You
-
Go if ball hit behind you
-
On Flyballs:
-
Ball in air behind you - Tag
Up
-
Ball in air in front of you
- Go Far Enough To Get Back If the Ball is Caught
-
On Basehits:
-
If in the Outfield, Go to Next
Base
-
If to the Outfield in a Gap,
Run to Spot for Circle Path Around Bases & pick up 3rd Base Coach
-
On Fouballs:
-
If You Hesitate - Go Back!
-
At 3rd Base:
-
Lead off at least 1 foot foul
-
Ball hit in air-tag IMMEDIATELY
pick up the ball be ready to go on touch! (coach can STOP you but you're
going on your own)
-
Ball hit on the ground, hold
position and if the ball goes through the infield you score.
Once the Baserunning Rules have
been learned and practiced another important element to teach your players
involves When to Steal, When to Take Chances, and When NOT to Take Chances.
While these times might seem obvious to many of you, you can never assume
your players know what you know, or that all of your players know the same
thing. So making copies of these Strategy Basics, and thoroughly explaining
each one, in addition to practicing these will go a LONG way to helping
your baserunners make the right decisions and take the right chances at
the right times!
STRATEGY BASICS:
When TO STEAL:
-
Early & often if their team
has a dominant pitcher and your chances to score against her are slim
-
Against a pitcher who pouts
and reacts a lot
-
Against a dropball pitcher (since
this is the hardest pitch for a catcher to throw from)
-
Against a catcher that likes
to go down on her knees a lot
-
Against a shortstop that's slow
-
Against a middle infield that
has to split their coverage against a slapper (meaning the SS goes toward
3rd base and the 2nd baseman moves toward 1st. That doesn't leave anyone
covering 2nd)
-
Against a SS that plays a slapper
in front of the baseline and the 3rd baseman has moved in incase of the
bunt (great opportunity to steal 3rd since nobody is in position to cover
3rd)
When TO TAKE CHANCES:
-
When your team is playing a
pitcher that is awesome and your chances of scoring are slim!
-
When the batter's coming up
don't have much of a chance of hitting you in
-
When it's early in the game
(1st-4th inning)
When NOT to TAKE CHANCES:
-
When your team is hitting their
pitcher really well
-
When the batters coming up are
hitting really well
-
When there are less than 2 outs
and your chance of scoring are pretty good
-
When you're the tying or winning
run and it's the 6th or 7th inning
While there are always exceptions
to rules, if your players can learn these rules and strategy basics it
will really help them make the correct decisions when the game is on the
line and they have a split-second to decide whether they should stay where
they are or take a chance advancing to the next base or two.