executing a rundown

Coach, it is taught both ways. Do not let a dad tell you that you are teaching it incorrectly. There are many ways to teach some of the same things. I have actually taught that both ways in my career.

Like the above poster said you can do it either way. Young players have a tendency to throw the ball way too early instead of aggresivle running at the runner to get him in a point of no return before they make the throw. I would work on this aspect. A good rundown is one throw and a tag.

Force the runner into a situation where he can't change direction by running hard at him then throwing the ball to a player that is also closing the gap. Show the ball but don't fake throw.

I taught the "peel off" because that's what everyone in youth ball taught, until...

Someone taught me the "merry go round" or "figure 8", which is much better. Also, you will notice MLB teams do it that way.

Had a HS coach teach an even better way. Have both defenders sprint toward the runner as fast as they can. One or 2 throws max - play is over.

I teach it VERY similar to what cball put. In practice we stress the creating full speed by the runner and then one throw ahead of him for the tag. In a perfect world it would be nice to have him end up going back to where he left but I don't want to have an extra throw just to create that to start the rundown.

In your example of the pick at first and heading to second my first baseman will catch the throw and chase the baserunner on the inside of the line (infield grass) as fast as possible. Reason for the inside is the receiver will be right handed and have his glove on the side the runner is coming from. So it's a catch / tag instead of a catch / reach / hope for a tag. In this case the receiver will be the 2B in front of the bag by about 10-15 feet. I have this guy stationary and he is the one who calls the throw by saying ball.

If we do it right he calls it and is able to tag the runner as he turns around. Our thinking is it's going to take him about 3 - 5 steps to stop, turn and stop. The receiver should be able to close the gap for a catch / tag in that amount of space. If he calls it too late then it becomes a bang bang play which we don't want. He calls it too early then we can execute a new rundown back to the bag with the pitcher covering 1B. We teach our pitchers if you pick you follow the throw.

Once a throw is made we just tell them to get out of the way. I don't have them get back in line or anything else. We teach - get 'em going, turn them around and tag them. If we can't do that then they deserve the base.

We do give the chaser the option to hold the ball and chase them down even if the receiver calls for it. But they better get him and they better not realize they can't get him and try to throw it. Once the throw is not made the receiver is getting out of the way and will not be ready for a throw. As said earlier the chaser cannot pump fake becasue all you're doing is faking out the receiver. We do give the chaser the option to pump fake if he's dead set on keeping. But the receiver knows if he sees pump fake to get out of the way.

What you can do is if you have an experienced IF is use the SS as another receiver if the chaser holds the ball. Since the 2B is is 10 - 15 foot in front of the bag that can give you some wiggle room to have another chance at a throw if the SS is ready at the bag. It's obviously not ideal but it can be another chance.

Key things for a rundown

1. Get the baserunner up to full speed as fast as possible
2. Have the receiver create bag cushion of about 10 - 15 feet in front
3. Chaser has ball in throwing hand up and no fakes
4. Chase to the inside / outside of where the receiver's glove hand is
5. One call / one throw / one tag

Now before people start harping about how I need to teach the merry go round or peel method (and yes both are fine to teach - there isn't one way that's best) understand that I used to teach the merry go round. I used to teach the throw it and follow it like we do with our pitchers but it got to the point we were doing the rundowns so well in practice / games that we sorta forgot to emphasize that in practice. We basically forgot to do it anymore because we got so good at the 5 Key Points we didn't need more than 2 throws.

By getting good at this we could now spend more time on rundowns with multiple men on base and reacting to that.

Best way to teach this rundown of one man on is as a warm up drill at the start of practice. Put an OF as a runner and pick him and work it. That's all we did.

Great information guys, thanks! I didn't think I was giving incorrect information, but I'm not too proud to learn something either. Since many of my guys do not have a bunch of experience, I will continue to teach the "merry-go-round", but will begin to incorporate cball's & coach2709's method of aggressively going after the runner.

Being new to coaching (other than coaching son in the yard, I'm fortunate to have stumbled across this message board! Thanks again guys!

P4G

No man can climb out beyond the limitations he places on himself.

We also use the merry go round. But as coach2709 said, we don't often need it because we get the runner in a sprint and make 1 throw. If you are correctly sprinting at the runner, it would be harder to stop peel and retreat to the bag, rather than to peel off and keep going where you threw it. A great drill we have used for years is to have the kids line up at 2nd or 1st with their gloves. The first kid in line at 1st is the runner, the 1st baseman holds the ball up and yells "go!" He chases the runner and tries to tag him in the small of the back. If he can't tag him, he steps to the throwing side and delivers a throw to the man at 2nd that has closed the gap about 10-12 feet. He applies the tag and the play is over. The thrower then becomes the runner from 2nd back to 1st and the man who received the ball at 2nd yells "go" and chases that guy back to 1st and makes the throw to get the out. Then that thrower becomes the runner and it continues. Clear as mud, huh. Just remember the "thrower becomes the runner." All players need to keep their gloves on because they go from runner to fielder. We do this from 1st to 2nd and from 3rd to home at the same time and get some good conditioning out of it.

Catch. Separate the ball from th eglove. Get the runner running at max speed. Call for ball. Close on the ball. Tag firmly. It's easy.

And create the proper throwing lane.

I teach one thing differently than 2709 (great post)...I teach my pitchers that they always start in a rundown in foul territory. Consider this:
a rundown between 1st and 2nd, the pitcher covers 1st base (behind the 1B) while SS and 2B cover 2nd, a rundown between 2nd and 3rd has the SS and 2B at 2nd, therefore pitcher must go to 3rd, a rundown between 3rd and home, I teach the pitcher to cover home behind C because the 3B and SS have 3rd base. So, following that principle, they always cover the foul territory.

One trick I use in teaching rundowns (especially youth) is to take cones and divide the baseline into 1/3 (put a cone at 30 ft. and a second cone at 60 ft). Now you can talk about runner positioning and give some good guidelines. A runner in the "middle third" means always run him. When he crosses into the final third, the player covering the base breaks for the runner, calls "ball" and we make a throw. Kids very quickly learn when they are throwing too early because it is easy to demonstrate which "third" the runner is in. Keep in mind that most rundowns at youth baseball (assuming no bad throws) are blown by throwing too soon, so by not throwing with a runner in the middle third helps to "slow down" the rundown to allow execution to happen.

Finally, this is a huge help when teaching the 1st base pickoff. Here is my rule: when the 1B catches the ball from the pitcher on a pickoff, if the runner is still in the first third (usually means he froze) run at him, but if the runner is in the middle third with his back to you, step into the grass and fire to the SS at 2b. If the runner is in the middle third, but stops, run him.

Once the younger players understand the dynamics of the "thirds" they can begin to visualize the timing of when to run and when to throw. Then the concept of closing and change of direction become a simple matter of trust and timing.

Good stuff guys... One other point to mention, instead of teaching "run at the runner" when he is picked off, have your guy run a step or two 'ahead' of the baserunner so that he starts out in a better position for us if we blow the first throw.

Yes, a one-throw rundown is a thing of beauty. I teach infielders to tag and grunt or 'pffft'.. It doesn't have to be Anna Kournikova but a little sound is something I discovered as a player can helpmthe ump...

schwammi I love that aspect about the cones you do in practice. I believe that's something I'm going to start doing.

I see what you're saying about the pitcher and it makes sense. We're just rotating our guys slightly differently.

Great post Schwammi. I like the idea of using cones also. Provides a good visual for the players.

P4G

No man can climb out of beyond the limitations he places on himself.

Excellent stuff on the cones Schwammi. Thanks for sharing

we peel back. we call it replace yourself. we throw immediately to the next bag (unless hes asleep and we can just tag him, that first 3rd area talked about earlier). then we sprint hard to get him going back to the bag he came from. 2 throws max is the idea. worse case scenario is hes back where he started, no advance. make sure we are in same throwing lane. not throwing across runner. tag made with ball in hand, hand in glove, for no bobble on hard tag.. but knock on wood i cant ever remember us botching a rundown. we've always got the out.

I do teach to pump fake, but only after the runner looks back. Also, I teach the runner to not look back but run directly to the glove of the receiver.

raider,
I like everything you say except the throw immediately to the lead base. A good baserunner will draw the throw and then sprint back to the bag.

papa,
Pump fakes normally only fake out the guy receiving the ball.

"raider,
I like everything you say except the throw immediately to the lead base. A good baserunner will draw the throw and then sprint back to the bag."

If the runner is going to be safe I want him to be safe at the bag he came from as opposed to advancing. Although I agree in theory that a good runner would draw a throw to the base ahead of him and then get back, but I must say that I have never seen a runner do this in a game.