pick offs

1st year 12-U. On pick offs to 1st and 3rd do you have your 2nd/short cover for the throw or your 1st and 3rd baseman? We play our 1st and 3rd in a bit, maybe up to 10 ft in depending on the situation.

What is your pick off strategy? I must admit I hate it when catchers constantly fake throws it seems to take away the suprise.

Should whoever is covering the base cover every pitch or just when you signal for the pick off?

Thanks,
Mike

Mike,

We use all of the infielders on pick-offs. However if I want a middle infielder to cover a pick-off we usually do a pitch-out. If we are covering with a corner we do it on the pitch. I think it is good to mix it up.

Thanks,
Sean

No matter how close my corners are they are still closer than my middle infielders. If you have a play on like Sean said earlier then all bets are off but other than that I would not sacrifice fielders positioning for a very low percentage play like a pick off. I also agree with you Mike on the fake throws, we teach immediately back to the pitcher unless you are throwing down. We have more girls called out on look back than we could possibly pick off. What ever you decide to do make sure you spend adequate time practicing so you have a good chance for success. Good Luck

Sean and rowdy,
Can you take a minute to explain position responsibilities for a pick off to a lay person? I'm a first year manager with 13/14 year olds and little experience. Thanks

If I may interject. We have been very successful over the last few years using this play for both first and third base pick-offs. Depending on which base we are throwing to we have either the first or third baseman creep in as if we are expecting bunt. This gives the runner a false sense that they can take a bigger lead, at that time we have the second or SS loop around (towards outfield) thereby getting out of the sightline of the base coach and then cover their respective base. The pitcher delivers a pitchout and immediately throws to first or third base. If the runner is stealing 1st to 2nd the secondbaseman makes the call alerting the catcher to throw down to 2nd. In this instance the 2nd baseman and the SS must alert the RF and LF so they know a throw is comming and they need to back up play... Important... No one except 1st and 3rd baseman mover until the pitcher is almost about to release the ball. Even if we are not successful in the pickoff attempt the runners leads are drasticly shortened for the balance of the game.

KenB said:

Sean and rowdy,
Can you take a minute to explain position responsibilities for a pick off to a lay person? I'm a first year manager with 13/14 year olds and little experience. Thanks

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If your going to have SS bail on thier fielding position to get to a pick off position at 3rd base early ( or same with F4 going to 1B) you may want to call a pitch out to reduce the chance a ball will be hit to the gap the fielder just vacated.

First year 14U, we do the same as above. We don't attempt a pickoff at 1st unless bases are loaded or there is a runner at 1st and 2nd.

What I actually find funny is when the catcher hasn't done a sign the whole game, then suddenly we get a runner at 3rd, and the catcher comes out and gives a sign...

YES with the pitchout... your pitchers must know to throw the ball so the batter cannot hit it... practice, practice, practice. We got burned a couple of times last year when our pitchers didn't get it outside enough... LOL

CoachKevin said:

YES with the pitchout... your pitchers must know to throw the ball so the batter cannot hit it... practice, practice, practice. We got burned a couple of times last year when our pitchers didn't get it outside enough... LOL

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Practice for your catchers sake to. At 12U we were at one of our first games, two new catchers. Coach asks for an intentional walk. Catcher looks at him like he's from Mars. (we had a base open runners at 2B and 3B with the #4 hitter up 1 out) Coach explains that we want to walk the batter so the catcher has to give the sign then stand up away from the batter to receive the ball. This catcher must not have heard the recieve the ball part because she literally stands up and lets the ball go past her to the backstop without attempting to catch. Run scores from 3B and coach decides that we will work on that in practice before trying it in a game next time. It wasn't the catcher's fault. It was our (the coaches) fault for not practicing something that might come up in a game.