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Baseball Defensive Strategy for Catchers

JE Jack ElliottMember
Hello Everyone,

While playing in high school, I remember playing against a catcher who would purposely drop the ball in innings when a runner was on first to entice the runner to steal secondbase thinking it was a wild pitch. It seemed to work pretty well for him as it would cause us to delay stealing on wild pitches because we weren't sure if we were being set up. Has anyone else experienced this as I am surprised it is not used more often?

Best,
Jack Elliott
Baseball Strategy
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SA S. Abrams100+ posts
You have just been told by the catcher that he doesn't believe he can throw you out without resorting to a trick play.

Read the pitch, go on the ones in the dirt...he can't throw that well. Sounds like the baserunners aren't up to par either.

Not a strategy to think about...except that if this was necessary for the catcher to throw out runners, maybe we need a new catcher.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E is another term for this "strategy".
RJMRJMHSBaseballWeb member since 2007
These kinds of strategies are used when no one will run on a catcher with a strong arm, or a team is in a jam and needs an out. The play I've seen is the catcher acting like the pitch got by him. He'll take one quick step like he's going to the backstop then plant, and look to see if they prey took the bait. I don't like dropping the ball. What if it hits a pebble and bounces out of quick reach?
SA S. Abrams100+ posts
Even catchers with guns don't want runners attempting to steal if they are smart catchers. If the catcher has a gun, show it in the throwdowns so the other team plays station to station baseball.

I mean, even the perfect 1.7 POP gets mishandled by MIFs occasionally. And being that most bases are stolen off the pitcher, most catchers know they are playing catchup to good baserunners in a steal attempt. Overall, just bad odds.

And we're talking HS catcher/kid here...I don't want him falling in love with his arm too much. Love can turn to lust and then he'll go stupid on you at the wrong time.

My son got into a lustful period with his arm once. 2 outs, runner at first, 2-2 count. Pitch is curve bounced in the dirt, strike 3 and the runner is stealing on the pitch. In a fit of bicep lust, my genius son throws out the runner at 2nd instead of the easy out at 1st. He lost a few pounds of butt when he got back into the dugout from the other coach ( I was ready to kill him). Still amazed our MIF was there to take the throw.

Yes, I know why he did it...he was 14-14 for the season throwing out runners; that really didn't help his case when he mentioned it in the dugout. Like I said, a kid with bicep lust in a fit of insanity leads to some strange baseball.
R Rock-N-Fire10+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by S. Abrams:
Even catchers with guns don't want runners attempting to steal if they are smart catchers. If the catcher has a gun, show it in the throwdowns so the other team plays station to station baseball.

I mean, even the perfect 1.7 POP gets mishandled by MIFs occasionally. And being that most bases are stolen off the pitcher, most catchers know they are playing catchup to good baserunners in a steal attempt. Overall, just bad odds.

And we're talking HS catcher/kid here...I don't want him falling in love with his arm too much. Love can turn to lust and then he'll go stupid on you at the wrong time.

My son got into a lustful period with his arm once. 2 outs, runner at first, 2-2 count. Pitch is curve bounced in the dirt, strike 3 and the runner is stealing on the pitch. In a fit of bicep lust, my genius son throws out the runner at 2nd instead of the easy out at 1st. He lost a few pounds of butt when he got back into the dugout from the other coach ( I was ready to kill him). Still amazed our MIF was there to take the throw.

Yes, I know why he did it...he was 14-14 for the season throwing out runners; that really didn't help his case when he mentioned it in the dugout. Like I said, a kid with bicep lust in a fit of insanity leads to some strange baseball.


Well said S. Abrams.

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