Squeeze Play

As a coach who loves to use this play, I don't see how any defense can stop the run from scoring. Many other coach's say and have tried (unsuccessfully) to use the pitch out. My question is two part. Is there a better baseball play? and How can the defense stop it?

 

Throw the ball directly at the hitter. He will either move out of the way or get hit resulting in a dead ball. My experience is they get out of the way.

 

Hey...you stole my thought first

 

that begs

the question, then do you teach your pitchers to hit batters when they think it's a squeeze? I didn't think so!

 

A pitchout if it is a left handed hitter. If the batter is right handed throw it at his head or chin music to get him out of the way so the catcher can tag the runner. If your not feeling that violent, throw it high so hopefully the hitter will pop it up and the catcher or pitcher makes the catch and throws it to 3rd for a double play.

 

Hitting the hitter is not a good idea. Instead of having one runner on base, you now have two.

 

I've had

a few runners slide thru before the pitch got there. Once the runner slide thru the batters legs. The umps took 5 minutes trying to figure that one out.

 

Hopefully the other coach has taught him how to get out of the way. I have seen this play more than 2 dozen times and I recall a batter getting hit once.

You asked if there was a defensive play to help stop a squeeze play. I'll leave it to others to decide any ethical issues, but that's your answer.

 

with all due respect

the pitcher has released the ball before they actually know for sure the runner is going all the way! And I didn't ask your wife!

 

It's getting scary. We're on the same wavelength