Help me out here guys because I haven't coached baseball in 5 years but have coached softball the past 2 years. What I'm seeing in MLB, College and even HS is guys making piss poor attempts at tagging players sliding into bases. They are going after the player leading to a high tag which gives the runner a chance to slide under. Tonight watching Houston and someone else on ESPN highlights I saw the Astros catcher receive the throw and had his mitt 2 feet off the ground trying to tag the runner. Ends up tagging him on the shoulder and runner was safe.
What I teach my guys (and now gals) is to "tag the bag". Obviously not literally tagging the bag but to get the idea of going to the bag since that's where the runner has to eventually end up to be safe. If they go chasing them that allows a runner to slide away from the tag and get a foot / hand in there while the defensive player ends up with a high tag.
This is for bang bang plays and not the times when the throw beats the runner easily. In that case create a cushion from the bag to apply a tag But if the ball and runner are going to be close - tag the bag. Am I missing something?
