Baseball Coaching Tips: How To Help Your Teammate Steal A Base!
Players, coaches and baseball parents who want to help their son should learn what very few know about how a hitter can help a teammate when he’s attempting to steal a base. If you are the hitter and your teammate is trying to steal second base, here’s what you can do to greatly increase his chances for a successful steal.
1) Square around as if to bunt even though you have no intention of bunting.
2) Place the bat at approximately the eye level of the catcher.
3) At the last second, pull the bat away and do not attempt the bunt.
This will slightly block the vision of the catcher when he tries to catch the ball and also will prevent him from aggressively jumping out of his stance and gaining momentum toward the base he’s throwing to.
Catchers don’t like this because they can’t make their normal throw that they practice all the time. It disrupts their timing as well as their footwork. There’s a good chance the catcher’s throw will not be a good one. Catchers work on their footwork constantly. They usually have it down to a science and for it to be disrupted ever so slightly could very well turn into a very erratic throw. Your runner may not just get the base he’s attempting to steal but may very well get an additional base if the catcher’s throw sails into the outfield. It’s a very effective play and one of the smartest baseball coaching tips you will learn. Very few baseball players or baseball coaches know about it and that’s why it is not done often.
Please note that this should be used at advanced levels of play only. It should not be used by young players that are just starting out and learning to play baseball. There is a huge difference between baseball coaching tips for young players and baseball coaching tips for players at the high school level of play and beyond. Eight to ten year old players compared to players that are fifteen years old and up should be coached accordingly. Let’s not lose sight of that fact.
At older levels of play, help out your teammate and show your coaches, teammates and everyone else how well schooled in baseball you are. Baseball parents, players and youth coaches, I post a new FREE baseball article on hitting, pitching or fielding every Monday at LarryBaseball.com that you and other baseball people you share them with will benefit by reading. Please feel free to use the links for your website, blog or newsletter to attract more visitors or to keep your current visitors returning. I promise you will be raising a few eyebrows.
