When to Use a Delayed Steal
A delayed steal is called when the pitcher
and catcher are doing a poor job of watching the runner on 1st, or the
middle infielders are not doing a good job of picking up 2nd base. Executing
a delayed steal starts with taking an aggressive leadoff. When the catcher
releases the ball to the pitcher, the runner breaks for the next base.
The base runner must be fully committed
to doing this and always go in sliding (preferable sliding by and reaching
around to touch the base). This is always a tag situation, so that
extra .5 of a second will almost always result in a successful steal attempt.