3B Coverage on a Bunt

[flipper14]

By no means do I rank up there with college coaches but to me this sounds off. Sure, catcher is coming out of the hole towards third you gain a step or two there. At the.most physically demanding position on the field you have her sprinting to third, besides all the sprinting to backup first? What happens when it is a good sac bunt that is on the line 4 to 5' from the plate? Catcher runs by it and passes 3rd baseman coming to it? A push bunt, yeah that will work but a good sac bunt and your catcher will make a play on the ball leaving third open. IMO

Next practice put your best sac bunter up and tell her to put it down third and see what happens. Also, what happens on a bad bunt? One right in front of the plate. Will your catcher field and try for two, possibly missing both outs or will she throw to first leaving thirs open again? I just think this play works only on push bunts.

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The catcher covers third if she doesn't field the ball. If she does, third baseman retreats to third. It just needs to be communicated.

 

[Doug Romrell]

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The catcher covers third if she doesn't field the ball. If she does, third baseman retreats to third. It just needs to be communicated.

Sorry, but with 95-degree summer temperatures around here, I won't be having my catcher sprinting down to 3b to cover.

There are a few philosophies on this and most are neither right nor wrong.

 

[joeman39]

Wonder how many have there catcher spint down 1st base line to cover in 95 degree temp. on every hit?? I don't think this situation comes up on every inning and every game so I don't believe it would hurt a catcher that much but again JMO. I just don't agree with no back up on the bases. Wild throw could hurt. That's what is great different views and ideas.

 

[Easton33]

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The catcher covers third if she doesn't field the ball. If she does, third baseman retreats to third. It just needs to be communicated.

Sorry but not gonna happen. Especially if it is 5 or 6' from plate. Third will be too committed to turn around, if she isn't, she is not coming hard enough.

 

[Easton33]

This situation comes up almost every game.

 

[Doug Romrell]

I don't agree with having no back-up at 3B. And, I still think it's usually fool's gold to throw to 2B instead of 1B. My choice would be to have the short-stop, or the third-baseman (if she's not the one fielding) or the pitcher (if she's not the one fielding) cover 3B, but the direction the SS goes would, like any hit, be dictated by the direction of the bunt as stated previously.

 

[pizza-boy01]

We work on this play all fall and winter. 3b fields the ball....pitcher peals back to 3rd, if pitcher fields the ball.... 3b peals to cover. LF will race in to back-up or cover 3rd base all the time. SS to 2nd, 2B to 1B. When we execute this our SS is ready to take a throw from our 2nd basemen if that runner goes to far from 2nd. We will have a play where 2nd throws to SS automatically...our pitcher covers 3B. On agressive teams we haven't given up 3B and threw out the runner 60-70% of the time at 2nd.

SB88 is exactly right. If a team is even considering going 1st to 3rd on a bunt, they're going to have to have a very aggressive turn at 2nd. A well executed snap throw from 1st will have this runner out to dry. Then the question of whose covering 3rd will be academic; they're no longer going to try it!

 

[flipper14]

Sorry, but with 95-degree summer temperatures around here, I won't be having my catcher sprinting down to 3b to cover.

There are a few philosophies on this and most are neither right nor wrong.

How many times do you plan on this happening per game?

 

[flipper14]

SB88 is exactly right. If a team is even considering going 1st to 3rd on a bunt, they're going to have to have a very aggressive turn at 2nd. A well executed snap throw from 1st will have this runner out to dry. Then the question of whose covering 3rd will be academic; they're no longer going to try it!

That certainly works. I like covering it with the catcher because the runner going from first to third and even the coach things the base is unoccupied because not as many people cover it with their catcher. You are then more likely to get a larger turn at second base than you would if the pitcher is standing at third right away.

 

[Easton33]

SB88 is exactly right. If a team is even considering going 1st to 3rd on a bunt, they're going to have to have a very aggressive turn at 2nd. A well executed snap throw from 1st will have this runner out to dry. Then the question of whose covering 3rd will be academic; they're no longer going to try it!

A runner going to third will be past the bag and headed to third (where no one is covering) and will not be concerned about your snap throw. Especially when she sees no one is covering.