Suicide squeezes and stealing home

Not often enough in my opinion. Big leagues either. I saw a case today that would have been perfect, but they chose to swing away and ground into a DP that ended the inning.

I like the suicide squeeze and have used it quite a bit. Stealing home not so much.

The suicide squeeze should be used late in the game when you NEED a run - to tie the game up, take the lead or possibly add an insurance run. Stealing home is just too big of a gamble to take the risk.

Reason why people don't run these more is because it kicks the door wide open for criticism if it doesn't work. The "know it alls" will come with "I never would have done that" but if it does work then you're a genius. As absurd as this sounds there is more job security with the double play than the botched suicide squeeze.

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
I like the suicide squeeze and have used it quite a bit.

Reason why people don't run these more is because it kicks the door wide open for criticism if it doesn't work. The "know it alls" will come with "I never would have done that" but if it does work then you're a genius. As absurd as this sounds there is more job security with the double play than the botched suicide squeeze.

This is very true and applies to all levels--probably the most at the top level (MLB).

Even if a football coach was gutless, he'd still have to call plays. Baseball coaches don't have to. Job security dictates calling a minimum of them.

When risk-reward tells me to squeeze or whatever, I give the sign. But many don't.

One of the best coaches I ever coached against used the bunt, safety squeeze, suicide squeeze in any count in any situation. His players worked secondary leads, stretched leads, all the time regardless of the situation. When you played them you had better be ready to make plays because they were going to force you to make plays.

What made them so good was the fact they were very good at what they did. The practiced the bunt game and running game constantly. It was who they were. Two strike squeeze. Two strike drag bunts. Full count bunts. Double steal drag bunts. It didnt matter what inning it was or what the score was or who was up. Clean up hitter drag bunting. I had a tremendous amount of respect for this coach not because he was a gutsy guy who would try anything at anytime. It was because they were so well schooled in what they did.

We worked on bunt defense and bunt offense every day. We worked on first and thirds every day. We worked on base running every day. We worked on cuts every day. Working on the little things that are huge things when you have to do them.

The reason many coaches do not use the bunt game especially the squeeze and saftey squeeze very often is many times they have not worked on it and they dont have confidence in their players ability to execute. It takes time and effort.

I am a huge fan of the bunt game not for just moving runners but to put pressure on the other team. To force them to prepare for it. To put them in situations where they have to make plays under pressure. Its an attack mode for you and a defensive mode you can put them in. Its a psychological thing for them and you. Your guys take on the mentality of being the attacker and they become the hunted.

It can force some very good pitches to hit. It can bust a game wide open. I never used it as much as I probably should have. But we did use it a lot. And coach Horton was the master.

I'm a fan of the squeeze. It is a great weapon to have in the arsenal. I've used it a good bit over the years on my teams with much success. However, as Coach May pointed out, it’s very important to have confidence in your player to get that bunt down regardless of pitch location. That mostly comes from practice. The other thing I’ve noticed is that your base runner needs to have extreme confidence in his teammate to get it down when he needs to. I personally believe this can affect how aggressive of a jump your runner can get.

What used to surprise me, but doesn’t anymore, is the number of GOOD teams that don’t use the bunt or squeeze effectively (or at all), and the number of teams that don’t know how to defend it.

I’ll never forget being in a Championship game against a good team, that we knew very well. They had lots of speed and loved to bunt. Last inning, tying run for them on third base with one out. I brought my left fielder in to play beside and in front of my pitcher, and split the outfielders. The hitter was not a power guy and had already bunted once that game. The opposing Coach knew what I was doing, however the parents went absolutely bonkers, on both sides.
I’ve also noticed how many Coaches and parents seem to “look down” on the bunt or the squeeze as part of the game. I remember a fellow Coach (another team and age group) relaying what he heard while watching one of our games one Sunday.

The kid at the plate for us was on fire. He had already burned two of the outfielders with hard shots over their head. (Center and LF) The game was tied with an inning or two to go. I had the go ahead run on third. I squeezed the runner in, and the hitter (not a speedster) was almost safe at first. They were just not expecting bunt in that situation. That run ended up winning us the game. Well as this went down, the Coach I mentioned earlier was watching the game, standing with a couple of other Coaches. One of them remarked “I can’t believe he would take the bat out of that kid’s hand there.” The conversation went on and these Coaches almost seemed to refer as the squeeze as “Cheap”…one of them even said “yeah they won..but like that?” And yes I’m serious.

Maybe this ties in to the “Hot Bat” era? More homeruns, more extra base hits, at all ages. I think the bunt almost started to be looked on as a tool for teams that couldn’t hit. I’ve even seen posts here on this message board that referenced it in a roundabout way.
Why is that?

I just think, again my lowly opinion, that the more facets of the game you teach your players and let them experience them in games, it just makes them better players. They know the game better, inside and out. But again, that’s just my opinion.
I wonder if the bunt and the squeeze will once again take its place as an integral, and important, part of the game now the BBCOR bats have taken root?

I like what you guys have to say about the squeeze. What I have a question about is why not try to steal home every once in a while? Personally I think it can be a high pecentage play.

If I see that a pitcher has difficulty freezing a runner or if he is slow to the plate, I like the chances.I have no problem with sending a runner if a pitcher has a delivery time around 3.5 then we have a chance to be productive.

We like to time someone from their stealing lead to their pop up slide at home during practice. If a runner can average close to 3.0 then he will stand a good chance of scoring and we will take advantage of that once in a while.

quote:

Originally posted by CoachO:
What I have a question about is why not try to steal home every once in a while? Personally I think it can be a high pecentage play.
.

With a pitcher in a slow wind-up, and a smart baserunner at third, straight-stealing home can be a higher percentage play than suicide squeezing if the third baseman is positioned far away from the bag--i.e., deep and off the line.

I use a take-sign and confirmation (from the batter) that is fail-safe and unmistakable.