CADad,
IMO - Being thrown out 1 out of 10 times in this situation is 1 time too many. The base stealer is not even the tying run. This would be giving the opponents a "free" chance for an out. I sure hope the first time a coach tries this isn't the 1 time the runner is thrown out. Talk about some unhappy fans!
Sometimes pitchers will ignore the baserunner in this situation and just give him 2B. That's the only time the SB is worth staying out of the double play. If I ever see this done (without just giving the runner the base) at a high level, I will come back on here and eat crow.
In the past we have done the following. Two runs up, last inning, one opposing runner at 2B. Automatic pickoff over throwing 2B to the CF. Our hope was the runner would break for 3B and give us a "free" chance for an out.
If that didn't work we would balk him to 3B. This was done to get him out of the way of making a ground ball a tougher play for our SS. Very slight advantage, but never-the-less a very slight advantage. We wanted every possible advantage we could get. The hitter was all that counted in this situation.
Teacherman,
The hitter hits the first pitch and flies out deep. I don't know how the hitter feels, but I know how I would feel if I were the coach. If just hitting the ball well would guarantee me a baserunner, that would be a different story.
I agree with hitters being aggressive and selective, but they do make mistakes at times. And sometimes they do what they're supposed to and hit screamers that turn into outs. The above mentioned should not be one of those times in the situation we're discussing. I've also seen many hitters who have walked after being behind 0-1 in the count.
It's only the situation where the hitter is not at least the tying run in the final inning that I'm talking about. I've had teams in that situation many times over the years, as has most all who have coached a long time. People do it differently, but most if down a bit more will take a strike.
I will say there are certain hitters and certain pitchers that could change my opinion slightly. But with the hitter "taking" a strike, it eliminates the human error factor of swinging at something other than that "happy pitch".
What I'm saying isn't the gospel, it's just the way I would do it. No problem if others do it differently.