Sunday, November 25, 2007

Could you audible in baseball?

The audible is a legitimate part of football. Does it have a place in baseball? i think it does and here is where.

The audible is used in football when the quarterback sees something that he knows won't work. So, he calls another play that he has been coached to call that will work.

In baseball, I believe the audible would have merit in a suicide squeeze situation with a runner on 2B.

Here is how I envision the audible working. Typically, the audible would be given by a runner at 2B peering in to the catcher. When the runner witnesses the catcher's signals he could change the play. In a suicide squeeze, the only thing that the offense would truly fear would be the pitchout. There are many ways to call a pitchout but most are entirely different than calling a pitch.

Examples of pitchout signals are "fist", "five followed by a four", "horns followed by a four." Regardless, if the runner on 2B sees any of these signals he could audible out of the squeeze by yelling "black, black, black." This would indicate that the squeeze play has been cancelled.

The premise of the play is designed around the ability of the runner to see the catchers signals. I have never seen a team do this but I'm intrigued and I think it could certainly work.

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