What are your unwritten rules?

[JAD]

Fake bunt/swing..
I'm surprised to see how many people oppose this...
I coach it pretty regularly. Drag bunts, then sac bunt, show sac bunt and pull back to swing, show sac then pull back and then actually drag bunt, show sac bunt, and then push the ball past the charging corners...This is all part of our short game. We will take our opponents mentally out of the game by worrying about whether its safe to crash or not. If they stay back, we drag. If they crash we push bunt the ball past them or swing away. When they see that bat come back to swing, they freak out and start to back peddle, all focus has shifted into their safety and not winning the play.

There is strategy to it, and at 14U it is not as big a deal because the players are more softball "savvy", but if I called for a fake bunt-swing and my batter drilled a charging 3B in the face with a line drive, I would probably never forgive myself. Yes, accidents happen, but I am not going to implement a "strategy" that could get someone hurt.....that's just the way I roll!

I remember another time at 10U, when we played "up" in a tournament. The opposing coach came up to the HC and myself before the game started and pointed out his two biggest girls and said "those two are NOT going to bunt, play your 3B behind the bag when they are at the plate".....needless to say we did, and both those girls could knock the cover off the ball (my DD hung a curve ball over the middle of the plate that I swear went 275 ft and was still rising when it cleared the 200 ft fence), anyway, I thought it was a classy move by the opposing coach and we appreciated him taking the safety of 3B into consideration......

 

[Rocketech1]

There are 2 good reasons why you shouldn't coach your hitters to wave the bat around on 3-0 counts to distract and rattle the pitcher and catcher: a) its a bush league move; and, b) at the next level, or the next level after that, hitters will get an extremely up close and personal view of ball 4, that is if it doesn't hit them. If you can't coach your players how to hit, at least teach them to act like they can instead of begging for a walk.

Totally agree with you that waving your bat around in an attempt to distract the pitcher is by definition: bush league. The first time I saw this was at a 8U all-star tournament. DD is pitching, the top of the order up for the opposing team and they immediately start waving their bat around before every pitch. After striking out their first three batters, they stopped waving their bats around the rest of the game. They were clearly outclassed and were trying to gain some sort of advantage.

Regarding fake bunt, swing away - I'm ok with it, its part of the game just like slapping. If the 3rd baseman wants to crash home or not its up to her.

 

[Jr10234]

Saw 16u game the other day, several bunt-pull back attempts by the same player. 3B charged every time like it wasn't going to happen and almost got her clock cleaned. I thought at her age and knowing she was coached the same technique she would hold, but no.

 

[wildcat]

Had a similar situation with my youngest. 9u playing 10u tournament, vs strong team. Opposing coach, after putting up a few lets me know this is going to turn into bunt practice. Sure, we could use the work, why not. 15 bunt attampts in a row on all strike counts. Dd at 3b crashing every timeand as coaches we didn't recognize this! Batters pulled back and from 20 feet away missed by 6" her face. Yes wearing a mask. It was a rocket, she ttells me she didn't see it only heard it go by. Heart stopped on that one.

Next weeks practice we spent a lot of time on that and still do. I still have no problem with using it but pick your spots for sure. I say at the younger ages at least let the coach know its part of the arsenal or save it for stonger teams. Its part of the game and a good tool to have.

 

[chapelhillbilly]

I've got superstitions too.

In school ball, once we take the lead and I'm sitting, I can't move from that spot. Makes it pretty difficult if we take the lead the first inning and by the 5th I need to use the restroom, and then we go into extra innings.

I get what you're saying. We've never done the restroom thing but playing travel ball now for 5 years a lot of the parents, no matter what team we've played with, believe our chairs have to be in the same order no matter if we have to move to another field or not. Some believe it to the point of telling someone "no, you need to move your chair". If the other person doesn't share the same belief I've seen some funny (and sometimes hateful) looks given. LOL

 

[Indiana]

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

And only slightly less well known is this "never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"


Unwritten rules for DD's team - don't take a 3d strike and for heaven's sake SLIDE.

 

[chinamigarden]

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line

Ahhh, Indiana Beat me to it

 

[Jquick823]

There are 2 good reasons why you shouldn't coach your hitters to wave the bat around on 3-0 counts to distract and rattle the pitcher and catcher: a) its a bush league move; and, b) at the next level, or the next level after that, hitters will get an extremely up close and personal view of ball 4, that is if it doesn't hit them. If you can't coach your players how to hit, at least teach them to act like they can instead of begging for a walk.

There may be a difference in the degree of waving that we are talking about. I also didn't say i couldn't coach or that i coach it. I said i would wave the bat around and not my players, and i promise you at the D1 level there is bat waving on a bunt. But moving on, a little movement in the bat that might distract the pitcher or catcher is within the rules of the game and not bush league, bush is screaming "I GOT IT" while rounding 3rd and causing the infielder to drop the ball. Ask AROID he knows all about that. Bush league is throwing a high fast ball at someones head because they are waving the bat around and you can't throw a strike. A coach in the tournament last weekend told his pitcher to throw at the bat. If they wave it you hit it.

 

[HoweMan]

I would teach my girls to not walk in front of batter/umpire. And when in a blowout game, your team is ahead, never start packing your equipment while the other team is batting.

 

[Lozza]

If you're up by more than 10 stop stealing (except on balls the catcher is missing and never home), stop bunting, change your first string pitcher out. I've watched games where teams have run up 40-1 scores against weaker opponents and lets just say people don't walk away talking about how good the side that won was.