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Who Is In Charge?
by Dave
Monday, June 08, 2009
A few weeks back I wrote some commentary having to do with several topics, one of which was about catchers who had free reign to chase runners regardless of the situation. At that time, I suggested to you that good teams do not just allow their catchers to throw at runners whenever they please. I received a little pushback from a friend who thought I was talking about very young catchers and felt we need to encourage these girls to make the throws at a young age because they're going to have to make them when they get older. I was not writing about younger catchers. I was referring to all catchers from very young but including those in college. The specific examples I referred to were all at high school level and up. I agree that sometimes you need to encourage a catcher to make certain throws in order to develop their skills. But allowing catchers to just throw whenever and to whichever base can be as bad for their development as it is for the team.
Without going back over the specifics I wrote, what I suggested was for any interested party to create an experiment through which to judge the success and failure rate of "aggressive" catcher-made throws. I feel the results of a real examination of certain throws we often see catchers try to make would be enlightening.
Typically, we see catchers try to throw out runners at first when those runners take liberties by getting a little too far off base. That can be a very valuable tool for certain situations. Depending on whether you have a righty or lefty batter, the catcher can have a great look at the runner, the fielder covering, and the outfielder backing up the play. First is the safest base to throw to.
Second is a bit tougher because the throw is quite a bit longer. There is also the fact that the pitcher has her back to the base runner and is not necessarily in on the gag. I have seen numerous times when a catcher tried to pick off a runner at second and the pitcher made a great play to get her glove on the ball and prevent it from flying into the outfield. She didn't know the catcher was throwing to second. Sometimes, despite herculean effort, such a pitcher can only manage to tip the throw and then the ball sails someplace where there is no back-up. This alone can make the throw to second a low percentage one.
Also, because fielders need to be in position to make plays if the batter hits a grounder up the middle, the 2B cannot always get to the bag timely to take a throw down to second. Obviously, during most of these situations, the SS is concerned with covering third on steals so she's not going to be the one covering second. That's as it should be anyway because you really want the covering fielder to come from the back side of the runner on a pick-off. If you happen to have your 3B covering third and your SS is freed to take the throw at second, it is still a bad idea to have her covering since she is coming from the same direction as the baserunner. But I'm hoping most of you realize your 3B needs to be in for the bunt and the SS should be covering third.
So the difficulty of getting a runner at second do to the fielder perhaps getting there a little late, plus the distance involved, plus the fact that the pitcher may misread what is going on, makes the pickoff at second difficult and a low percentage play. Add to this that generally, the baserunner at second gets off a bit more than one at first or third, that she may deliberately try to draw a pickoff throw in order to advance to third, and the fact that a throw from second to third to get the runner who moves on the pickoff attempt is made all the more difficult by the covering SS probably being in a bad position to take a throw from second. What's more, the secondary throw to third, should the runner attempt to advance on the pickoff, is a really bad proposition since a bad throw will sail out of play and therefore hand the baserunner home. The ad hoc pickoff at second is not something we want to encourage.
The pickoff throw at third, however, is my personal demon. I absolutely hate it. I have seen more runs score as a result of a pickoff at third than for any other type of play. I've seen catchers strike the batter with the throw - once a game was lost when the ball struck the batter's helmet and sailed out of play. I've seen balls many times strike the helmet of the baserunner diving back in and then fly out of play. I've seen SS's get struck in the face and other places by such a throw as the ball comes in right past the diving baserunner. The SS never saw the ball until it was on top of her as the runner just barely missed being hit. I have seen catchers stumble as they went to release the ball and throw it past the LF backing up on the play. And I have seen very, very few runners ever caught off base like this.
The overall point I ewant to drive home is NOT => don't ever try to pickoff a runner. of course we want to pick off runners. But it cannot be an ad hoc decision by the catcher. It must be called by someone else. And just about everyone on the defensive team should know it is coming.
If we're going to make a pickoff attempt at first, I think I would rather try to lure the runner into complacency by having the 1B up for the bunt and not rushing back to cover the bag. If the baserunner belongs to me, and she sees the 1B rushing back to cover, I want her back on the bag. That's the way all runners should be trained. But it is just possible that the 2B can sneak in behind the runner without the base coach realizing and catch everyone sleeping. So, at the very least, the C, 1B, 2B, and RF have to know a pickoff is coming. It has to be a called play. The catcher can call it. The 2B can call it if she thinks she can sneak in. The RF, at least in theory might be the one who would notice the opportunity so she should be able to communicate to 2B, etc. if she thinks it should be tried. And of course, a coach should be able to call it.
If we think of it this way, it should work. There has to be a verbal call like "Red Rose" or some such where the catcher is letting the 1B and 2B know she is going to throw. 2B should let the RF know, if the C can't be heard. Alternately, the C could have a hand signal for the various fielders but it can't be something that will be confused with other signs. Bottom line is everyone must know it is coming, everyone except the runner and base coach!
If the pickoff is coming at second, like I said, I want the 2B covering that so my SS is covering third. You cannot do this in standard bunt coverage situations since the 2B has to cover first. But if you want to run something like this, I think I want a pitchout anyway. In fact, if you suspect a bunt, the runner on second is expecting the SS to cover third and the 2B to cover first so she's likely to be vulnerable. She's also more concerned with moving to third if the batter gets one down. She believes nobody will be covering second so she may be lazy getting back to the bag. Call a pitch out, have 2B cover second while SS runs to cover third, and pick her off, if you want to be aggressive. I've seen this play wreak havoc in ITB a few times. Most importantly, I would limit my catcher trying any pickoff at second to these types of plays. And I'd want it called from the bench.
With respect to third, I have more trouble identifying the situation in which I want a pickoff attempt. I have absolutely no doubt that many of you can come up with certain situations perhaps you saw this past weekend. But I also have no doubt that I cvan see the situations differently, that I'd be less prone to try a pickoff in those. I do realize that having a runner on third with no or 0one out, the game tied late, etc. can really cause stress. I realize that you'd be willing to trade almost anything, except a run, to get rid of that girl. I just happen to think the pickoff from C is the lowest percentage play.
I'd almost prefer a play in which the C throws immediately and hard back to the P who wheels and fires to get the lazy runner out. That's a 40 foot throw with a clean line. But most well schooled base runners are not going to be vulnerable to that sort of thing. If a coach or say the 1B were to notice that the runner at third were off the bag more than a full stride and a dive, and then be slow or lackadaisical getting back to the bag, then I think a pickoff 2 to 1 to 6 ought to be attempted. I'm sorry, I just don't want the throw to come from the C.
This is a really important issue to me for many reasons. I've been lucky to have had the opportunity to watch a lot of very good catchers. Almost all of them are very aggressive players. They'd like to get every runner out, whether they steal or simply lead. Several girls I've watched have cannon arms. I've seen quite a few with sub-2 pops. And yet, I've seen more bad throws, costing a run at a critical time, than I have seen runners actually picked off.
Recently I watched a young catcher ply her trade. She's very good. But I believe she is overly aggressive and I think I know why. I don't want to get into the reasons why. But I think this sort of behavior needs to be, if not controlled, at least tempered, even aty a very young age. You don't do a kid any favor to build up the notion that she should throw to every base, every time, if when she gets to Gold level, high school, or college, her coach is going to take pickoff decisions out of her hands. And in the meantime, if she costs her teams more games than she wins by being the hero, especially on elimination days, well, you get the idea.
OK, I don;t want to go into this any further. I just want everyone involved in this game, particularly coaches and perhaps, to a lesser extent the catchers themselves, to consider the percentages when doing a pickoff play. I want you to assess this realistically. Its OK to pickoff but let's have specifically designed, called for and executed plays for this.Labels: catching, coaching, defense
 
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