Most demoralizing play in baseball?

When I coach teams, players at some point will typically hear a version of the following from me … usually at the beginning of the season.

“Guys, there are many reasons why teams win games.  However, you will be in games where the deciding factor in the win was good base running.  You will also be part of games where the deciding factor in the loss was bad base running.  My teams are ALWAYS going to be on the positive end of this.  That means that we will pay a lot of attention to our base running this year.”

There are many small details to good base running.  Today’s post is about one of them.

Situation:  Runners on 1st and 2nd with two outs.  A ground ball is hit in the 5.5 hole (between the shortstop and the third baseman).  The shortstop goes to his right, fields it, and chooses the easier option which is to get the force out at second base to end the inning.  He makes the throw. It’s a bang-bang play at second and the ump yells “SAFE!”  The runner who started on second base flies around third and scores without a throw home.  The offensive team’s bench goes nuts.  The pitcher is furious since he got his ground ball and assumed the inning was over.  Many of the players on defense were already moving towards their dugout. The defensive team is now demoralized and their energy is sucked out of them.  They thought they were out of the inning.  The pitcher cannot recover mentally and walks the next batter.  The following hitter smokes a ball into the gap that clears the bases.  The following day, the local newspaper provides the score and mentions the key 2-out, 2-run double that sealed the win. 

Situations like that happen all the time in games.  Unfortunately, there is often no mention of the real hero in that inning – the runner who extended the inning with great base running.

When I coach first base, there are a number of things I say to runners depending on the situation.  With 2 outs, the phrase “Beat the throw to second base” is always one of them.

I can pretty much guarantee that if all your runners at first base take that play seriously and bust it all the way to the bag and beat that force out, you will win at least one game per season because of it.

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