Wednesday, December 26, 2007

A steal of 3B coupled with a fake bunt

A man gets to 2B and he is thinking "Can I steal 3B?" He is noticing the tendencies of the pitcher and the practices of the middle infielders as to whether he should attempt to steal the base. He is looking into the catcher to see if the catcher is disguising the signals or not. If he can predict a curveball than that might be another opportunity to steal the base. Is there anything else that could help contribute to a properly executed stolen base.

The batter could fake a bunt for a base hit and see if he could confuse the coverage by the 3B.

A steal of 3B could be signaled by the 3B coach or signaled by the runner stealing the base itself. The batter after acknowledging the play is on could fake a bunt for a hit. Ostensibly, this is to draw the 3B in and leave the empty base vacated.

The timing of this play is critical to success. The bunter must show bunt right as the pitcher goes to throw home. We want the 3B seeing the bunt opportunity prior to him hearing or seeing "runner" out of the corner of his eye. We would like the 3B(undisciplined of course) to commit to the bunt while leaving the base open for a steal.

The play is predicated on a very undisciplined 3B. Novice 3B are very vulnerable to this play as there instincts take over on the first sign of a bunt. It's a very tough play to defend if you haven't practiced it plenty times before.

Things to look for to see if this play is a viable option:

a) 3B has come hard on previous bunt attempts.
b) 3B is being told where to play constantly by the coaches
c) 3B is unaware of how to throw the ball around the horn. This means he must be a novice.

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