PG,
Thanks.
CADad,
No problem! Anything for one of our favorite physics experts.
I always feel like putting a disclaimer on everything I say.
"This is the way we do it, it's not necessarily the only way it can be done"
That would cover most things anyone mentions in baseball.
No problem! Anything for one of our favorite physics experts.
I always feel like putting a disclaimer on everything I say.
"This is the way we do it, it's not necessarily the only way it can be done"
That would cover most things anyone mentions in baseball.
It seems to me that if you hit the bag with your left (inside) foot you would also reduce the possibility of an ankle sprain due to a mis-placed landing on the bag. You might stumble, but you won't roll the ankle. Your right foot would have more of a tendency to roll under if you had a bad touch on the bag.
A couple years ago, my son learned this the hard way ... a long shot to CF on a field without a fence looked like a sure HR on the roll. He hit 2B at full speed and his right ankle gave way ... he had sprained it earlier that month so it was already weak. The good news was he was wearing a laceup brace. He plowed a groove in the infield with his face all the way out to the SS position, then hobbled over to 3B for the standup triple ... the brace saved his ankle so the only injury was to his dignity
... and some road rash. He and his teammates laughed pretty long about it.
It would probably have resulted in a very bad sprain without the brace, but had he landed on his left foot instead, the right foot would have next been on flat ground and would have been OK.
A couple years ago, my son learned this the hard way ... a long shot to CF on a field without a fence looked like a sure HR on the roll. He hit 2B at full speed and his right ankle gave way ... he had sprained it earlier that month so it was already weak. The good news was he was wearing a laceup brace. He plowed a groove in the infield with his face all the way out to the SS position, then hobbled over to 3B for the standup triple ... the brace saved his ankle so the only injury was to his dignity
... and some road rash. He and his teammates laughed pretty long about it. It would probably have resulted in a very bad sprain without the brace, but had he landed on his left foot instead, the right foot would have next been on flat ground and would have been OK.
Thanks for raising this question, CaDad, about which foot to use for running bases. We ahve coached to run the bases by hitting the bases with the left foot but have done so in a blind fashion. Meaning I was coaching something I really didn't understand the reasons for, other than that it is the way I heard to teach it. It made more sense to me, since I was also one of our teams football coaches and we teach our receivers that they CAN NOT make their cuts on the inside foot! This makes since to me and you see the difference that it makes in our receivers routes, especially their quickness coming out of their cuts. Isn't this basically what you are doing in base running? I understand you don't do a perfect 90 degree cut at the bag but it still makes more since to me that you can take less of an angle into a bag by using your outside foot to explode off the bag while making your. Just my thoughts.
PGStaff, I did try to read your post on this topic but could not quite understand the reasonings you were using, so if you wanna try to explain it to me a little bit differently I would appreciate it because your are actually the only one that I have even heard from that actually gave me some sort of reasoning for this (even thuogh I don't understand it)
Thanks Guys (and Gals if you choose to reply)
PGStaff, I did try to read your post on this topic but could not quite understand the reasonings you were using, so if you wanna try to explain it to me a little bit differently I would appreciate it because your are actually the only one that I have even heard from that actually gave me some sort of reasoning for this (even thuogh I don't understand it)
Thanks Guys (and Gals if you choose to reply)
KC Dad,
I probably didn't explain it as well as others might. The big difference in football is there's no bag that has to be touched. I'm surely no expert on passing routes, but if the outside foot is "always" used to turn on, there must be a good reason. My question would be... if your running full speed and you make a left turn off your outside foot... where does your inside foot go on the very next stride?
In running the bases... If you at full speed touch the base with your right foot... your left foot in it's next stride almost has to go beyond your body (in it's path to the next base). This would be much easier to explain with drawings.
If your inside foot touches the bag... your next stride is right foot outside your body... where it should be. You will make this turn faster with better balance and gain better footing and leverage in using the bag to push off of. It is much easier to create a shorter/straighter/faster line to the next base.
My suggestion is to have your runners do it both ways and watch. I think it will become fairly obvious after awhile. Of course, there is more to it than simply using your inside foot. There is technique involved in doing it properly.
When rounding the bases, the most critical distance is between the base your trying to reach and the base right before it. In other words if you read sure double possible triple you will set this up for as straight as possible line from 2B to 3B because there will be no play at 2B. Same for being at 1B when the hitter hits one in the gap, you'll want 3B to H to be as straight a line as possible, because there won't be a play at 3B. Same as getting a base hit to left field, you start rounding because there won't be a play at 1B. It's on these final turns that using the inside foot is most beneficial.
This is one of those things that is hard to describe in words (I guess) and very simple to describe on the field. Sorry, if it's hard to understand.
I probably didn't explain it as well as others might. The big difference in football is there's no bag that has to be touched. I'm surely no expert on passing routes, but if the outside foot is "always" used to turn on, there must be a good reason. My question would be... if your running full speed and you make a left turn off your outside foot... where does your inside foot go on the very next stride?
In running the bases... If you at full speed touch the base with your right foot... your left foot in it's next stride almost has to go beyond your body (in it's path to the next base). This would be much easier to explain with drawings.
If your inside foot touches the bag... your next stride is right foot outside your body... where it should be. You will make this turn faster with better balance and gain better footing and leverage in using the bag to push off of. It is much easier to create a shorter/straighter/faster line to the next base.
My suggestion is to have your runners do it both ways and watch. I think it will become fairly obvious after awhile. Of course, there is more to it than simply using your inside foot. There is technique involved in doing it properly.
When rounding the bases, the most critical distance is between the base your trying to reach and the base right before it. In other words if you read sure double possible triple you will set this up for as straight as possible line from 2B to 3B because there will be no play at 2B. Same for being at 1B when the hitter hits one in the gap, you'll want 3B to H to be as straight a line as possible, because there won't be a play at 3B. Same as getting a base hit to left field, you start rounding because there won't be a play at 1B. It's on these final turns that using the inside foot is most beneficial.
This is one of those things that is hard to describe in words (I guess) and very simple to describe on the field. Sorry, if it's hard to understand.
In baseball you can cut on the inside foot because you have the bag to allow you to lean without losing footing. If you were to try to cut on your inside foot in football at that velocity the foot would just go out from underneath you and you would have to step across your body with the right foot. (assuming that you are cutting left)
The bag helps to propel you and make the sharper cut rounded without losing acceleration. If there were no bag, the cut would be very rounded, almost to the grass.
Football cuts, or routes, tend to be very precise angles and not rounded. They also incorporate head and shoulder fakes as a form of deception. Again not applicable to base running. The purpose of the footbal route is not pure speed, but it is an attempt to get separation in order to get open to catch a pass. Baseb running is purely about jump and speed. Two different animals.
The bag helps to propel you and make the sharper cut rounded without losing acceleration. If there were no bag, the cut would be very rounded, almost to the grass.
Football cuts, or routes, tend to be very precise angles and not rounded. They also incorporate head and shoulder fakes as a form of deception. Again not applicable to base running. The purpose of the footbal route is not pure speed, but it is an attempt to get separation in order to get open to catch a pass. Baseb running is purely about jump and speed. Two different animals.
Left foot makes sense as PG recommends.
It would seem that touching with the left foot allows you to incline your body the most so that your center of gravity is the lowest and therefore make the sharpest cut at the highest incoming speed.
It would seem that touching with the left foot allows you to incline your body the most so that your center of gravity is the lowest and therefore make the sharpest cut at the highest incoming speed.
WOOHOO! I got it. Thanks PG, your second paragraph put it all together for me. It all makes since now. Man, I love this board. Now I can finally explain the reasoning behind this without telling the kids to just "do it". I always hated that
to me, a big reason for the left foot is that when you take that next step, (if you hit the bag with your right foot), that next step would be with you left and you're very likely to slip or slide (especially with a wet track). And, as Jerry said, that left foot would be in a bad position (outside the body) on the next step. Can't really dig in with the left foot, but you could with the right.
So, for me, its more about that next step that the step that hits the bag.
So, for me, its more about that next step that the step that hits the bag.
quote:
Originally posted by TRhit:
Limom84
Anyone who knows baseball, talk to all those scoputs yopu hang out with, will tell you that flat out speed ie 60yd dash, has nothing to do with how a player runs the bases
Can you say Maury Wills !!!
CAn you say Willie Mays?
Can you say Jackie Robinson?
None of those three where flat out burners but boy where they exciting on the bases
Bernie Williams (NY YANKS) in his prime was one of the fasted players in the bigs but also one of the worst baserunners in the bigs
And then there was the sprinter that Charley Finley signed -- great 100 meter speed but knew absolutely nothing about running the bases.
Getting a jump on a batted ball or "closing" on a batted ball has nothing to do with flat out spoeed or running the bases.
It is not wise to wade in water when you do not know how deep it is !!!!
Happy New Year
the sprinter was Herb Washington.
Yes, that experiment kind of failed. Herb Washington was very fast but he wasn't ever a baseball player.
He played a little over a year before they gave up on the whole idea. However in 1974 he did help Oakland win a few games with his speed, he stole some bases and scored some runs.
He did get something that many Major league players want badly... A World Series Championship ring. Not bad for a guy who never hit, pitched or played a position in his life.
Herb Washington was very fast but he wasn't ever a baseball player.He played a little over a year before they gave up on the whole idea. However in 1974 he did help Oakland win a few games with his speed, he stole some bases and scored some runs.
He did get something that many Major league players want badly... A World Series Championship ring. Not bad for a guy who never hit, pitched or played a position in his life.