Lefthanded hitter and baserunner

When a lefthanded hitter enters the box, some interesting dynamics can take place between the catcher and the runner. Both players can take advantage of the fact that the other is blocked off from a direct view. In other words, a game of peek-a-boo can take place. Let's look into how both players can take advantage of the situation.

From the runner's perspective, not seeing the catcher is advantageous becuase of the steal element. Many times when a runner takes off the 1B must alert the catcher that he is running by yelling "runner." Well, the baserunner can fake a steal to incite that runner call. What this does is it creates movement with the middle infielders and it makes the catcher move out of position a litte early. Both of these early movements can be an advantage for the offensive team. Furthermore, if the runner does the fake steal enough, the 1B invariably is late when the runner actually does run.

From the catcher's perspective, he has an opportunity to pick the runner off of 1st with a snap throw in behind. The runner takes a secondary lead and because he can't see the catcher he can get complacent. If the runner desn't return promptly to the bag he is very vulnerable to a snap throw from the catcher.

This is one example of a classic "game within the game". Knowing the situation and what it can provide is imperative to gaining an edge. The fake steal and the catcher snap throw happen most often with the lefthanded hitter in the box.