I find it amazing at amateur levels of baseball that players run with their head down. And, I'm not just talking little league. I'm talking about high school level here.
When a player is on offense and he is hitting or running, it is imperative that he runs with his head up. How are you supposed to take advantage of poor defenders if you are not in position to see their mistakes?
Let me give you some examples.
1- You single to left field and you round 1B. As you return to the bag you turn away from the ball and retreat to the bag with your back to the play. All the while, the leftfielder airmails the 2B and you could have easily had 2B. See the play to the end!
2- You're at 1B and you have a bunt and run. You start to take off like it's hit and run principles. The ball gets bunted at the 3B. The 3B picks the ball up and instead of throwing to 1B, arm fakes. Running with your head down and assuming the ball was thrown you run full speed into the awaiting 3B with the ball. THIS HAPPENED LAST YEAR IN A VARSITY BASEBALL GAME!
3- You're at 3B and the contact play is on. The batter hits the ball back to the pitcher and the runner at 3B broke as he should. However, the pitcher fielded the comebacker and the runner is now bearing down on home plate. The runner should have his eyes up and if the pitcher fielded the ball there might be a rundown coming. We certainly don't want the runner to run into an out at home plate.
When you consider the fundamentals of baseball it's hard to not consider proper base running techniques. This can be taught as early as t-ball with some exciting drills. Have the runners call out numbers once the ball is off the bat or once they are on the bases. Get the kids seeing the ball. Don't just worry about what bases they're touching.
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