How much green light for players?

Yep...they teach that at the Little league level. You wonder how they forget those lessons.

 

if you have a fast, decently smart ball player he should always get the green light to steal third base, it is the easiest one if the runner can notice the pitcher just going through the motions and not checkin on him as much as he should, esp in high school ball

 

I politely disagree, especially in HS ball.

 

I am going to have to disagree with most of you here. I spent one year as an assistant high school coach before moving on. While there we gave the green light to 6 players. Of these six, I would say that only three of them were 6.9 or better. That season we were 99-120 in stolen base attempts. Granted, all 99 weren't on there own, but quite a few were. We had situations where we would take it away, but for the most part they were on their own. I think it really taught them to be good instinctive baserunners. Too many times, a guy will get a bad jump and go just because he had the sign to go. I would rather a guy get thrown out on his own and then tell me what he saw that made him feel like he could could swipe that bag. If they got thrown out on their own, they had some explaining to do. It was amazing to see how smart these guys could be on the bases just by giving them to opportunity to be instead of following our every command.

 

Another point

Working agressive secondary leads shrinks the infield. Especially at second base. Forcing the middle to cover and hold will open more holes for hitters. It also can work mentally on the pitcher maybe cause him to loose focus etc. Anything you do on the bases that gives your hitters even the slightest advantage is a plus. Also scoring from second base. The agressive secondary lead will allow you to score more often even on hard hit balls. At first an agressive secondary lead will allow you to pressure the mif on the dbl play and sometimes take 3b on the single. Its not all about the steal. Is the risk worth the reward in stealing third? That is always the question. There are times it is not and there are times it is it just depends. If the pitcher and mif are not doing their jobs then it is your job to take the base and force them to do their job which in turn will open up more holes. You could spend an hour a day on just baserunning in practice and it wouldnt be enough. Baserunning , the bunt game , first and third situations , cut offs , specialty plays ie pick offs etc , holding runners - these are the things that are usually the difference when two teams are fairly equal in talent. They are the little things that people rarely talk about and never see in the box score. But they are the little things that add up to being the big difference imo.

 

how can you disagree if the runner notices things such as maybe the catcher is being slack or has a bad arm, maybe the pitcher is struggling and is paying more attention to throwing strikes, if you get a good jump third base will be yours most of the time

 

You give the sign but its not etched in stone

On the steal not hit and run the steal is a sign to the runner that you want him to steal. We have always told our guys if for some reason you do not get a good jump or slip etc do not go. On the hit and run it is not an option. If your pitchers do a good job of holding runners and your catcher has a gun , you are going to have a hard time stealing bases on a consistent basis. If you are struggling to get alot of guys on base you will shut down the steal really quickly or you will run yourself right out of a baseball game. Most of the teams that dont hold runners and dont have a solid guy behind the plate you dont need to run on because they are probaly not very good in the first place. You may still run because you can. But the fact is your not going to run wild on a quality team. I dont care how smart the baserunners are.

 

that may be true, but even on a quality team a player can still get that extra little jump to take the base, and if he does and the team has one or no outs, your in great position for a sac

 

Heres my point

You have a runner at 2b in scoring posistion against a quality team. You are not going to get that opportunity but so many times against a quality team. You have 0 or 1 outs. That means you have two chances to drive in that run from second base. If you steal and make it fine. But if you steal and dont you have no one on and 1 or 2 outs. Is it worth the risk when you already have him in scoring posistion with two chances to score him? With no outs I woud be more inclined to sac him over to third and have two chances to score him for 3b. Plus there is no guarantee that the guy laying down the sac is going to be out in HS baseball. Is it worth the risk that is the question. If your playing a poorly coached team with minimal talent then you really could careless if he is on 2nd or 3rd anyway. If the pitcher is not holding you and the mif is not holding you and you KNOW you have it then fine take it.

 

lets say you do maybe get that steal early on in the game then it will make the mif's hold that runner on harder during the game opening up holes for your hitters