To get the baseball program started-and it’s never too early-the manager first needs to know:

What indoor and outdoor facilities are available?

How many assistants will be available?

How much time can be devoted to the pre-season program by the players, coaches and manager? How much time can be devoted to the program when the season is in progress.

Indoor Meetings

Since so much teaching is involved in amateur baseball, work should be started indoors-in a gymnasium, classroom, or private home. The manager will find that there are many advantages to indoor work. He will be able to use visual aids, like movies, or slides. He can easily give written examinations and blackboard “chalk talks.” He can schedule both daytime and evening meetings without worrying about bad weather. He’ll also be able to teach many things he simply won’t have time for once the playing season starts. Baseball Training - Read More.

Until a boy gets to be 13 or 14 years old, it’s usually pretty difficult to decide, in a final sense, the position he’s best suited to play. At eight, he may look like a good 1st base prospect. At 12, because of physical changes alone, he may look more like an outfielder. It’s a definite mistake to say early in a player’s life that he’s going to be a pitcher and nothing else. Even in the Major Leagues there are many examples of players being changed from one position to another.

In a group of eight-year-olds, only one or two boys are likely to have any stand-out ability. The others will per- form at about the same level. As this group gets older, there will be some slight changes in every boy.

How, then, does the manager know which boy is best suited for 1st base, 2nd or 3rd? What should he look for as the boys go through their paces?

The first thing any manager should do is evaluate his material. He knows his boys have to run, hit and throw. He knows they have to field. All right then, who are the fastest runners? The best fielders on ground balls? On fly balls? Which boys have the best throwing arms?

If the first practice session is in the gymnasium, the manager can pick out the fastest runners immediately. If outdoors, he can quickly find out who can run and who can throw. To find the best runners, simply line the boys up in groups and race them! To find the best throwers, mark a throwing line at one end of the field and put markers at 50-foot depth intervals at the other. Mark down on a rating sheet which boys throw the farthest, (also, which boys run the fastest). At the start of this test, by the way, the manager would do well to emphasize the need to throw the ball on a straight horizontal line and not with a high arc. To drive home the point, he might say something like this:

“There’s two ways of throwing the ball 100 feet. If you throw it straight up 50 feet, it will come down 50 feet and that adds up to 100. But runners don’t run up, or down, but along the ground. If you want to catch a runner, throw the ball on a line and throw it hard.” Baseball Training - Read More.

Good baseline coaches are invaluable. They are particularly important to the younger players. When a 10-year-old gets on base, he’s too inexperienced and too excited to do much thinking about his next move. He needs calm, clear, concise instruction.

At the higher age levels, the base runner needs just as much instruction and assistance because the game is getting faster and more complicated.

The baseline coaches have three basic tasks:

Direct the traffic on the base paths

Keep the base runners alert to the tactical situation

Give Signs

The most important “traffic cop” is, of course, stationed at 3rd, some 15 feet in foul territory. When the ball is out of a runner’s line of vision, the coach, through the use of hand and arm signals, tells him what to do-slide, round-the-base, stop on the base, or go on to the next base. Here’s a set of signals that is simple and distinct: Slide! Baseball Training - Read More.

Ball players and managers “talk” with each other through the use of signals, which may be given by voice, or by body movements. However they’re given, the “Signs” should be both simple and complicated; simple for the team using them, complicated for the opposition. That’s a contradiction, of course. The point is this: a team cannot use a set of signals that are hard to “read” or someone will surely miss one at a crucial moment. On the other hand, they cannot be so easy to read that the opposing team can steal them.

There’s a neat way of getting around this, rest assured. But, let’s take a look at what some of these signs might be, keeping in mind that any one might be associated with a play, such as the Bunt, Steal, Hit-and-Run, etc.

If the 3rd base coach is giving the Signs-and he’s the best person to do it because he can be seen easily by the batter and base runner-he might:

Touch the peak of his cap with the right hand (left hand or both hands).

Touch the letters of his uniform shirt with his right hand (left hand or both hands).

Tug his belt with his right hand (left hand or both hands).

Move his right hand downward over right thigh (left hand or both hands).

Put flesh-against-flesh (clap hands, rub hands together, touch face with hand).

Turn back to hitter and walk away.

Put both hands on knees (or hips).

Call out batter’s last name (or runner’s).

Touch right elbow with left hand (or left elbow with right hand).

Cup hands to mouth and flash teeth at hitter or runner. “Use A Key”. Baseball Training - Read More.

Objective

The hit-and-run play is one of the best offensive plays in baseball. The team t bat employs it to move the defense from its normal position and-if a base hit results-to give the base runner or runners an opportunity to take an extra base.

How it is Executed

The runner or runners break for the next base as they would to steal. The batter swings at the pitch, good or bad. If the pitch is far outside, he throws the bat at it to protect the runner from the catcher’s throw. The batter tries to hit the ball on the ground to the unprotected part of the infield.

When it is Executed

The play is normally called when two are out, the score tied or the team at bat ahead, and the pitcher behind on the ball and strike count. (The play can also be used with less than two out if the team at bat is well ahead). The best count is 2 balls and 1 strike. With the count 3 balls and 1 strike, the manager can sign for the steal. Thus, if the ball is over the plate, the batter will be swinging and the play will work just as though the hit-and-run sign were given. If the pitch is not a strike, the batter walks and the base runner or runners advance anyway. Baseball Training - Read More.

Objective

The Manager signals for the Sacrifice Bunt when he wants to move one or two runs into the best possible scoring position and is willing to give up an out to do so.

How it is Executed

With only 1st base occupied, it’s best to place the ball along the base lines in such a way as to eliminate the possibility of a play at 2nd.

With 1st and 2nd occupied, the bunt should be made up the 3rd base line and hard enough to get by the pitcher. This will force the third baseman to field the ball, eliminating the possibility of a play at 3rd and usually 2nd.

The runner takes a good lead, moves off with the pitch slightly. He does not attempt to advance until the ball is ON THE GROUND!

When it is Executed

Visiting Team-The Bunt sign can be given when the game has progressed past the middle innings; the score is tied or the visiting team is ahead; when there are none out with runners on 1st, and 1st and 2nd. It should be given when the batter first comes to the plate.

Home Team-Same principles as those that apply to the Visiting Team with one exception-the Sacrifice could be used to tie the score in the late innings. Baseball Training - Read More.

Ball players say a team has to play “percentage baseball” to be successful. They’re right. But, what is “percentage baseball?”

A Manager, first of all, is something like a checker player. As he directs the team on offense, he very often has a choice of moves. In a given situation, he knows from experience that move A has a better chance of succeeding than move B. If he makes move A, he’s playing the “percentages.” If he makes a different move, he’s playing “against the percentages.”

A number of factors affect the percentages, including:

The position of the runners

The ball and strike count

The inning

The score

The strength of the Pitcher

The strength (or weakness) of the Batter

Examine, if you will, each of these factors. Baseball Training - Read More.

Sometimes when a runner is caught off base, whether it be by the pitcher, catcher, or any other member of the defensive team, he attempts to get free by dodging back and forth along the base line.

The team without a defense for these antics, is a team that’s going to lose many a base runner, many an out, and, perhaps, many a ball game.

There is no excuse for a runner escaping, once caught in a run-up play. The defense has all the advantage. It need only remember these principles:

Take the initiative away from the runner.

Put the runner out with no more than two throws.

Put the runner out at the base he started from.

Now, put a runner halfway between 1st and 2nd.

The three players who would work together to put the runner out include second baseman, shortstop and first baseman.

Remove the trapped runner from between 1st and 2nd and put him between 2nd and 3rd. The three defensive men involved this time would be the second baseman, shortstop and third baseman. Baseball Training - Read More.

The second baseman and shortstop have the responsibility of keeping the outfield “informed” on each pitch. If no sign is given, the outfield can assume the catcher has called for a fast ball. If the catcher calls for a curve, the infielder might make some natural movement-a hitch of the belt, a kick at the dirt, a tug at the pant leg.

Up to the high school level, the relay of a catcher’s sign to the outfield is not necessary, except on a pitch-out. The out is part of a defensive play used to catch a runner stealing, or to pick a runner off a base when he has too long a lead. The throw is always hurried and, with young bal players, often erratic. It is helpful if outfielders know in ad- yam ;e that a pitch-out, is to be attempted. As soon as the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand, they can rush into back up The bases involved in the play. This relaying of the pitch out sign to the outfield should be started at the 13-year-old level; sooner if possible.

The Pick-Off

There are pick-off plays for every base. Some are started by the catcher, some by the pitcher. Many are “natural” and do not follow a sign. The catcher’s pick-off signs, like all signs, are not obvious. They might include a touch of the mask, a touch of the chest protector or a touch of the right knee. After a pick-off sign is given, the catcher calls for a pitch-out. He wants to keep the ball away from the hitter and, at the same time, be able to shift quickly into position for a clear throw. Baseball Training - Read More.

Now we come to some of the more complicated defensive decisions-what to do before the pitch when the bases are loaded, runners on 1st and 3rd, etc. Here again, the defense has to decide, in advance, what it is going to do. A situation-by-situation explanation may help your understanding of this problem.

The infield, first of all, can play at three depths-all the way back, which is as far back as it can go to make the average put-out at 1st on a ground ball; all the way “up”, which is as far as it dare go to handle a hot smash and throw a runner out at the plate; “half-way,” which is just between the two extremes.

Each depth presents certain advantages and disadvantages. When the infield is back, it doesn’t have much of a chance to throw a runner out at the plate on a ground ball, if the ball is hit slowly, or bunted. But, it has more range to left or right and, of course, has a better chance to get die lead runner in a double play if the ball is hit hard. So, the infield has to decide, beforehand, which way it wants to go on a ground ball-to the plate, to 2nd, or to 1st. It adjusts accordingly.

In late innings, with the bases loaded and none out and the winning run on 3rd, the infield should be up tight. With one out-unless it’s the last inning-the left side of the in field can be up for the left hand hitter, the right side back. Vice versa for a right hand hitter.

If the Home team were at bat, the infield might play up until one were out, then play back for the double play.

If the bases are loaded in the first inning, both teams would play back for the DP, conceding a run to the other team. Baseball Training - Read More.