Lead...Freeze...Steal!!?

[Kaizen]

You have gotten some good advice on stealing. You can occasionally use the "freeze" on a delayed steal to take advantage of a sloppy defense. I would differ from a couple of the posts that say the runner should put their head down and not look for the ball though. After a few steps, a good baserunner often takes a quick peek (while running full speed) to see where the ball is so they can react quicker to wild pitches, popups, etc.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Now we have been giving steal signs to our girls and I am wondering if I should have the girls lead...freeze...then steal if they know it is not a pop fly. We could steal second every pitch without a throw down just because of the level of ball, but I don't want the girls to begin to develop a habit and not watch what is going on on the field...or if a pop fly occurs.

Can someone advise me about this approach and any new ideas.

Thanks!!

NEVER freeze on a straight steal. The beauty of being able to give signs is that you can give the baserunner AND batter instructions before the play develops so everyone is on the same page. I too like to give the batter a "take" signal with a fake bunt to distract the catcher a little, draw the infield in, and to limit any double play possibilies (i.e. pop-up to catcher, fly ball). On a "hit & run" the baserunner needs to look-in to home plate after a quick few lead-off steps to make sure the ball is "angled down" off the bat and is not a possible line-drive out or pop-fly. As an inexperienced 12U team, your base coaches really need to talk to the baserunners and help manage the game effectively.

Lastly, aggressive baserunning scores many runs at this level. Teams will make lots of mistakes (throwing errors, passed balls, wild pitches, fielding errors, not paying attention, etc.) and you need to exploit it every chance you get. Put the pressure on the defense as much as you can. If your baserunners are not getting out sometimes on steals or going home on passed balls/wild pitches, you are not being aggressive enough IMO.

 

[druer]

In our game that is referred to as a Delayed Steal. Yes it is a viable option, and used frequently. You can't really use it on every pitch, unless you really are playing teams that aren't even paying attention. But even poor teams might catch on after 10-12 times doing it. It is generally used when you don't think you can steal on the catcher's arm. So you wait until she release back to pitcher or tries to throw behind the runner to the bag she was leaving, and take advantage of other teams pitcher/first basemen not being able to react fast enough to the girl having then gone.