When do wild pitches happen?

Many times a team could take advantage of balls that a catcher blocks even if the catcher keeps the ball in front of them. Keeping the ball in front of them should not be enough to stop an advancing runner if the runner anticipates a ball in the dirt. The true art to anticipating this is understanding what counts dirtballs happen in.

The ball in the dirt occurs most often when a pitcher throws a breaking ball of some kind. The curveball or slider can be thrown in any count but the strikeout pitch obviously occurs with two strikes. Therefore, as a runner you should be expecting a ball in the dirt in those 0-2, 1-2 counts. You'll be surprised how many times the pitcher does throw a ball that the catcher is expected to block. If you're aggressive and understand that the catcher must do more than simply keep the ball in front of him there are occassions where you can take the extra base.

0-2 and 1-2 counts. Expect the ball in the dirt and take advantage of it.