It is very important to tell your players to detect if the ball is in dirt during the base-running session. Here is a tutorial for you, the coach, to train your players how to read the trajectory of a pitched ball that will bounce in the dirt. Here’s how.
Players’ positioning is very important. Set up the players at all the three bases. Remember, different bases have different rules for a ball in the dirt so; different rules apply for the players at each base.

Now mix in strikes and balls in the dirt to the catcher. If the ball is about to bounce, ask all your players to uniformly say “DIRT” in a high pitch. This ensures that all the players of your team are paying attention to the session. Guide the base-runners as to instantly go when they get to know that the ball is about to bounce.

Tell the runners on the second base to react to the ball in the dirt and then decide whether they would be safe or not. Ideally, if the ball kicks away from the catcher, they should have gone and tell the base runners to stay if the catcher blocks the ball in front of him. Meanwhile, the runners on the third base should follow the same procedure as done by the second base runners. 

Always highlight the point to your players each base is independent of each other, so that the players don’t get confused.

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Baseball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.