Ethical, Unethical?

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Feb 13, 2015
164
18
Heard a coach discussing having a batter, with a 3 and 1 count and a runner on 3rd, run to first if the next pitch is a dropped strike. The purpose is to try and score the runner from 3rd if the catcher has lost track of the count and throws to first. What do you think of this?

Personally, I think a catcher confident enough to throw to first with a runner on third won't lose track of the count.
 
Jun 12, 2015
3,848
83
What age? Mine plays 10U and I think it would be unfair at this age. Even coaches lose track of the count sometimes. I'm pretty sure our first year, 9 year old catchers aren't always keeping up. In older girls though, why not. If they fall for it, it'll only happen once.
 
Feb 13, 2015
164
18
What age? Mine plays 10U and I think it would be unfair at this age. Even coaches lose track of the count sometimes. I'm pretty sure our first year, 9 year old catchers aren't always keeping up. In older girls though, why not. If they fall for it, it'll only happen once.
Middle School ball.
 
Nov 18, 2013
2,255
113
Back in 14U our coach had all the girls run out the play to first on a third strike, dropped or not. The idea was to get them used to taking off rather than looking around to see if the catcher caught the ball. An indirect benefit was that it would cause confusion at times with catchers unnecessarily throwing to first allowing runners already on base to advance. Occasionally our coach would get a warning for delaying the game, but there were never any penalties assessed. I could see his point so it wouldn’t call it unethical, but by second year 14’s it was just silly.
 
Feb 4, 2015
641
28
Massachusetts
It's bush league. At younger ages, this is more about trickery and not really teaching kids how to play and learn the game.
By middle school, it shouldn't work and it's more indicative of the type of program that coach is trying to run.

Always running on a third strike is good coaching. Running on a second strike is not having any confidence your team can win otherwise.
 
Apr 8, 2013
192
0
It's bush league. At younger ages, this is more about trickery and not really teaching kids how to play and learn the game.
By middle school, it shouldn't work and it's more indicative of the type of program that coach is trying to run.

Always running on a third strike is good coaching. Running on a second strike is not having any confidence your team can win otherwise.


Yep, bush league. Just put a sign on your dugout that says "we can't win without trying to pull one over on you."

I've seen this done quite a bit, especially when they were younger. Sometimes it's the girl up to bat not having a clue about the count, sometimes it's the coach telling them to do it. It's not against the rules is the way the other coach justifies it. Well, there are lots of things that aren't against the rules that you just shouldn't do. Does it say anywhere in the rule book that a parent can't yell "I got it I got I got it" really loud over and over on a pop up in the infield? I don't think so (maybe someone here knows better?), but what would you think of someone who did that?
 
Jul 19, 2014
2,390
48
Madison, WI
I remember a rec league where one girl, a brand new player, got the idea she was supposed to run to first on a third strike. She got a little confused, and was running to first on every strike. It took a while to straighten her out, but you gotta admire the hustle!

Oh, and as the season went on, she improved a lot. The hustle helped with batting, fielding, base running, etc.
 

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