The Squeeze Play

After giving the sign to hitter he is give a return sign to insure no breakdown in commo.
Hitter does not show bunt until pither starts forward following leg lift. He must bunt the ball no matter its location. Runner at 3rd can not leave too early, he waits until pitcher starts forward too plate.
Defense: 3rd baseman will follow runner and scream/yell "squeeze" to alert catcher. If pitcher detects squeeze prior to release he should pitch up and in.
Anticipate squeeze situations and pitchout and/or throw high FB which is difficult to bunt.

Coach gives signal to hitter. All runners are always looking at the coach when signals are given but to ensure that the runner has it and the hitter has it hitter ajust his helmet and runner brings hands together. Runner breaks when pitcher breaks to home. We square when the pitcher shows the ball in the box. Hitter understands he must make contact regardless of where it is pitched. Defense - third follows runner home. First charges hard pitcher follows his pitch. We want to a rhb a fastball up and in to a lhb up and away way off the plate.

The squeeze is a surprise play, so you only defend for squeeze when guessing the play. The squeeze usually is call at not bunting situations, how can a pitcher know about it, and then throw a pitch to certain spot?. When the coach think a squeeze play will be called, the best defense is to throw a pitch-out.
There are two kind of squeeze: The more commun the 3rd base runner will be out if the hitter miss the bunt, the other way to do the squeeze, the 3rd base runner wait a little to run, after see if the bunt is good enough to score.

This is how we did it. Highly successful, guess it doesn’t matter now if I give away our signs. It's always confused me why professional baseball does not use the squeeze play more often. Sometimes it's a very high percentage play!

Technique

Depending on LHP/RHP, windup/stretch. On “suicide” rather than “safety” squeeze. Runner at 3B would break when pitchers throwing arm reached behind his body to start the pitch. The hitter would square just before ball left pitchers hand.

If pitcher is winding, runner gets a bigger walking lead. If LHP... runner would break when pitcher lifts his leg.

Defense

There is none, if the play is executed to perfection. Only hope is for the bad bunt. If a pitcher knows in time, he should throw high and tight to the RHH or away to the LHH. It is not always best to overdo this as it can cause wild pitches.

Note: there were times we would squeeze with 3-1/3-2 counts and bases loaded (if we had weak hitter at the plate). We would practice this as several things change in this situation.

If pitcher winding, our runner would break very early… as soon as pitcher started windup! Hitter would square very early making sure everyone knew the squeeze was on.

This creates big time pressure on the pitcher. The hitter has the big advantage of only bunting a pitch that could be called a strike. (Pitch out results in ball 4) and a run.

The runner has the big advantage of getting a “big early” break to the plate. It’s a fairly high percentage play no matter what happens.

We actually ended a game when a pitcher pitched out up and in (ball 4) after hearing everyone yell “squeeze”. Including our bench!

Signs

No one ever stole our signs and we never botched the signs. Everyone involved was in a can’t miss communication. Only way to fail was bad execution.

Coaching 3B I would turn my back to the hitter and talk to the runner. When this happened the hitter knew there was a possible squeeze. The hitter seeing this would cross hands on the bat (RHH would simply put his left hand above the right hand on the bat. I would ask the runner “Everything OK”? If the hitter had his hands switched he would say “yes”.

At this time we tell the runner if the squeeze was on or not. So the runner can’t make a mistake! Then I would turn to the hitter. If I started giving signs of any kind the hitter would switch his hands back taking off the squeeze.

If I turned and just clapped hands, the squeeze was on! Where the hitters hands were at clapped hands told us squeeze or no squeeze. There were a few other things we did to insure we didn’t give away the signs, but for the most part our squeeze sign was “no sign”.

I once had a hitter that would not switch his hands back. After a long series of giving signs, I had to call time and tell him we weren’t squeezing.

I really enjoy talking about this kind of stuff and listening to what others do. Unfortunately, time often prevents me from getting involved in some of these things. I still read as much as possible that others write. After awhile it gets pretty easy figuring out who has a real good understanding of the game.

PG you are right there is no defense for the squeeze if it is executed properly. We have third trail the runner in case it is popped he can be in a posistion to possibly catch it in the air. SS takes third. CF takes 2b and 1b charges as well. Your only hope is it is missed fouled off or popped up. You really have to be carefull that you dont throw a wild pitch that the catcher can not handle. You have to practice it both offense and defense. I love the bunt game alot. We work it hard in practice. And I really enjoy working hard on bunt defense. First and third d and o are something along with pickoffs holding runners and cut plays that I call the little things that make a big difference. Teams that are well schooled in these areas have confidence. These are the things that make the difference when teams are equally matched and or the game is tight.

Coach May,

At some point I'd love to talk about our pickoff system. It helped us win many many games.

Unfortunately, I don't have the time it would take right now. Maybe later in another topic.

It's kind of fun being out of coaching. Giving away a few secrets is no big deal.

How ever you want to get sign to hitter and runner doesn't matter. Acknowledgement from hitter is optional (do you trust he will not miss the sign) potentially hitting a line drive down the runners throat.

Runner doesn't leave till pitchers lead foot hits ground.
Hitter doesn't square till pitchers lead foot hits ground.

**You do not want the pitcher to be able to adjust. At higher levels the pitcher will simply hit the batter. Dead ball runner(s) return. Restart.

It's a gamble. Can the kid bunt. Can the pitcher throw something near the plate so my hitter has a chance to bunt it.

Why am I squeezing? Infield in or back? If they are back I'm swinging, I might hit a double, maybe they make an error.

Great play and very exciting too.

Low, if it is a suicide squeeze I've got the runner going at the earliest possible moment (actual depending upon whether stretch or windup). Not waiting for the pitcher's foot to land. I'll take my chances on the pitcher being able to adjust & plunk. JMHO

I think what you are talking about doing would work at lower levels. Below Varsity HS baseball. Runner leaves early or Hitter squares early just gives others time to adjust. Runner leaves early 3B comes w/ him, better chance to field bunt. Run still probably scores but maybe bunter out at first, may not have been had we not left early.

I think the risk of leaving early or squaring early outweigh the reward. I'm not willing to get my hitter thrown at and possibly hurt, for the sake of scoring a run.

And if we are teaching kids how to execute this particular play offensively, that is how it is taught throughout professional baseball (I would say 100% of the time) and 99% at Higer levels of college baseball if not all.

Can we agree to disagree?

Has anyone tried a SSqBunt defense like this?

Have 3b play back behind the baseline a bit. As P comes set 3b jabs hard a few steps at 3b ( not laterally, but kind of running up the 3b line, angling at 3b a little bit) The P is looking at the runner, he feels 3b driving toward the bag so he goes back a little, and then the 3b runs past him toward home as the P goes ahead and pitches.

This seems like it would be similar to the 3b following the runner in, but it might actually freeze him at Third.

Main problem, I would think, is that if the hitter isn't bunting, it is dangerous for 3b...

TCB1....I was just saying if the runner at 3rd left early the 3Bman would come w/ him. If you run the squeeze right there really is no way to defend it. Meaning you will score the run provided the bunt isn't too hard and is not popped up. And more importantly it IS bunted.

Best way to defend it is to not be in that situation. LOL......or if you feel they might squeeze then pitch out. The squeeze and the pitch out are both a roll of the dice.

Good posts on how to perform a squeeze and when done correctly, it can produce a lot more runs than outs. However, I will talk about both pick and defense as not many have yet. Firstly, I believe squeeze plays have a success rate of abot 7-8 out of 10. It does depend if the hitter can get the bat on the ball and get it down. 2 years ago we were squeeze attempted on about 15 times and we got outs about 5 times. I cannot recollect exactly. It comes down to game knowledge. What is the score, who is the hitter, what type runner on 3rd, fast/slow, can the hitter get the runner in another way consistently? If we think we have a squeeze play coming, we may have the pitcher step off early in the count to gauge the runners agressiveness and whether a young hitter will show bunt early. Then we may go right after the runner at 3rd with a pick attempt. If we're in an 0-1 or 1-1, we may pitch out. Lots of things can and will happen. We like to pitch high also if we're in the right count and we know the hitter is not a masher. We have also had the 3b trail the runner and stepped off at just the right time, threw to the 3b and got the runner by total surprise. Now, alot of those defensive successes where due to offensive mistakes and inadequacies. So, In essence, with a sound offensive approach and good execution, the squeeze is a winner in my book.

Is it feasible to defend a squeeze play by having the pitcher, upon seeing the runner break, throw a one-hopper to the catcher? Not a hard-to-handle pitch in the dirt that the catcher would try to block, but a 50-foot fastball that would be easy enough to catch cleanly on a bounce, but hard to get a bat on.

It might be hard for the pitcher to make this adjustment if the runner doesn't break until foot strike.

Has anybody here ever tried anything like this?

Not if Murphy is pitching.

If Murphy is pitching, the pitch will hit a small stone, take a left turn at Albuquerque, and go all the way to the backstop. Thereby causing the winning run to score, the coach to bite his scorebook in half, the catcher to throw his mask over the centerfield fence, the pitcher's dad to stomp plumb through the bleacher's floor board, and the pitcher to look for a tall building with an open window.

Thats why I love the south. Plumb through!!!

Please have him throw a 50 ft. fastball! We'll take our chances on that one every time. If one of my pitchers tried that, my catchers would probably assault him before he could get off the field.

I prefer a fastball up and away if we expect a squeeze, even to a right handed hitter. I don't mean way up and away, but rather like a high fastball that is less than a foot off the plate. It is a tough pitch to put "down" in play and your catcher almost always has time to catch the ball and make a tag. If the runner on third has enough speed and jump to score before the catcher can tag him, he'd steal home anyway in 95% of the cases. I agree with PG and others that if the offense executes, there is almost no defense against a squeeze. It has to be a terrible bunt for the runner to be out at home, or a really bad jump from third (but then, the offense didn't execute, did they?).

Offensively, we coach our runner to not leave 3rd or hitter to show bunt until the pitcher begins coming forward and is commited to his location. If we get the bunt down in fair territory, we'll succeed at least 75% of the time. So much of the success of a squeeze play comes from doing it in the right situation with the right batter at the plate. Having a batter who can get the ball down on the first try is more important than having a burner on third, much more important.

I've waited to respond to this and maybe I shouldn't. Guess I'll throw some other thoughts into the discussion but it's like they say,"go ahead and speak up then you can solve the mystery of your intelligence or lack thereof."

There are three types of squeezes. Yup, suicide, safety and FAKE. All have their place. The next trick then is to determine how your opponent is going to defend the squeeze. Naturally, against some programs, just do it. Suicide and they don't practice turning two let alone defending the squeeze. (J/K) Next, what about the fake? Think of it, you can go through all of the motions, yet, have a "signal" for lack of a better description where you are going to show squeeze slightly early but fake it. Now, you see their defense. What then are the results? They might now be on to you but then again, they showed the primary way that they defend it. Oh, and yes, most often you have ball one on the hitter. You now have shown it do you suicide or safety now? How about the fake again? If done properly, then it it now 2-0 on the hitter. Will they go 3-0 if you show again? Safety time! Wait, the hitter now has a 2-0 count. Do you let him swing away and hope for that fly ball that finds grass? Can you get it over with now and just suicide? The answer now is yes to any of these given what you know about the batter.

Defense? Why doesn't anyone teach that "near balk" move to right handers? Oh, yes, you are afraid that if a balk is called then the runner gets home. IMO, you have have that move as well as a fake move to plant the seed that you can pick them off. Next, you need some type of "crash" play. You know, the runner charging the 3rd baseman charging. An intentional pitchout and the ss covering 3rd. If you run this and they don't squeeze, then you have to run a pickoff play on the next pitch. That prevents the coach from thinking that this is a good time to squeeze.

A couple of other things to think about:

Be careful of your acknowledgement. Almost every good coach has his bench watching and for us, that acknowledgement will get written down.

Don't squeeze if you don't practice it. Why do people do that all of the time?

The runner gives squeezes away a lot more than the batter. They do it with their acknowledgement, or asking the coach a question or...

Remember that the squeeze is a psychological weapon. Successful ones really build team moral. Failed ones do significant damage. Be ready to be positive if one fails so that you can get your team back focused on winning.

Everything here is JMHO! My humble opinion and $6.00 will get you an extra value meal at Micky D's!