By Rich Taylor
Special to the Free Lance
Preventing a baserunner from stealing second base involves equal contributions from the pitcher and catcher, as well as an assist from a middle infielder. If the battery mates work as a cohesive unit, they have a better than average chance of throwing out the runner.
The first thing you need to know is how fast the runner goes from a dead stop from his lead at first to touching second base. This can be done by clocking a few of your players in practice with a stopwatch. By determining their average running time, you’ll know the combined time your pitcher and catcher have to get the ball to second.
The combined time starts when the pitcher lifts his lead foot to deliver his pitch and ends when the middle infielder receives the catcher’s throw. By knowing the combined time and the time of an average runner, you’ll be able to figure out if your battery has a chance to nail the runner.
If the combined time is equal to or faster than the runner’s time, you’ll know you can catch a runner stealing. But if the combined time is slower, either the pitcher or catcher has to be more efficient with his motion.
For example, if an average runner can run from first to second in 3.5 seconds, then the combined time must be even faster than that to nail the runner. If the combined time is greater than 3.5 seconds, the runner will be able to steal the base. Now, you’ll have to look at what you can do to speed up getting the ball to second.
Don’t be quick to lay all the blame on the pitcher. While the hurler may need to speed up his motion to the plate, sometimes the catcher may also have a slow release or bad footwork.
On the front end, if the pitcher lifts his front leg a shorter height than normal in his wind-up, he will generate a quicker motion to the plate.
When lifting his leg, the pitcher should keep the bulk of his weight on his planted foot to ensure good arm action. While pitchers in higher levels of baseball sometimes use the slide step, I’m against it at the youth level. It leads to rushing and disrupts a kid’s mechanics. If you’re going to use a slide step at the youth level, use it on a pitchout.
Even with a more efficient delivery, a pitcher’s velocity to the plate might be slow, so no matter what, you still might not get under the combined time. Don’t put such an emphasis on being quicker to the plate and forget about the real agenda, which is to make a quality pitch.
Obviously, the other part of the equation is the catcher. His receiving skills should include quick feet, getting the ball into the throwing position as quickly as possible, lining up his shoulders with second base and throwing the ball on a direct line to second, rather than on an arc. A one-hop throw on a line will get there quicker than a throw on an arc.
However, none of these changes will guarantee an out. The throw must be on line and the middle infielder still has to apply the tag. But in the long run, nabbing the baserunner is made much easier by holding the runner close to first base, making good transitions and having a good combined time.
Rich Taylor is a former pitching coach at Pepperdine University and Chicago White Sox scout. He founded the West Coast Baseball School. He has 26 years of youth coaching experience and wrote the book “Molding the Young Pitcher.”
