Why is not running full blast to 1st on every BIP

It depends on what level you're talking about.  As one moves up to the higher levels like college and pro-ball, one has to be smarter about conserving one's energy and limiting risk to injury.

At HS level and lower, it tends to be more important to show that you've got hustle and commitment to playing hard on every play.

Don't know about full blast, but it is NOT acceptable to run slowly to 1B. I know we see it a lot where a player loafs to 1B.  Usually happens once the out becomes obvious.  

Remember the Harper/Papilbon fight in the dugout this year?  There are players (hall of famers) who never loafed to 1B.  A 30 yard sprint doesn't hurt anyone.  And many of those are not at 100% effort.  Just get there quickly until the out becomes obvious.

Also very frustrating when fly balls are caught before a baserunner gets to 1B. I know we see it, but to me it is unacceptable!

BTW, I would guess the ML team that takes it easy running to 1B the least Would be the Kansas City Royals. The little things make a very big difference.

 I think one answer is, if I'm paying Ken Griffey or Miguel Cabrera 15-20 million dollars a year to hit homeruns and drive in run's, I probably don't want him pulling a hamstring running full speed to 1st on a routine one hopper to a gold glove 2nd baseman. So is the case in getting caught in a rundown, he has already missed a sign or over ran a base, if he is out 6 weeks with a twisted ankle, or 6 months with a tore achilles heel trying to change directions quickly on a play that MLB infielders execute 99% of the time, I think this would be most frustrating for all.

 But there are other times that 100% effort is expected. If the tying run is on 3rd and you hit into a possible inning ending double play to the SS.

 I agree, those big boppers are not paid to beat out a throw to 1B, neither are pitchers.

The average MLB runner home to first is 4.3. The MLB infielder is .955 per cent

fielding average. the ML hitter hits the bat 40 per cent higher velociy than HS.

Very few opportunities to beat the throw. 

Run loose, flow and above all do not "jump" at the base. 

Bob

Do you think actors should perform their own stunts?

It seems acceptable to look like you are trying to run to first, give the high percentage mentioned, except when the fielder makes a small mistake.  Then you always hear about how no one runs to first like they want to be on the field.  I always believed if you are paid to play the game, play it, which means running like your paycheck depended on it.  If your not going to run, then why pretend.  Hit your grounders and go right back to the dugout and let someone who wants it go out there.

Are you suggesting starts should have "designated runners?"

Conserving energy? I know baseball players aren't athletes in the same sense as basketball players and football players, but having to semi-sprint 30 yards three or four times in two-and-a-half to three hours isn't exactly going to zap a player's strength to the point that he can't make that big play in the ninth. As to injury, I don't think anyone expects a full out sprint to the base, but just enough of an attempt to be able to make it there if someone drops the ball.

I think what we see has nothing to do with avoiding injury or conserving energy. It's more about what the mlb culture considers "cool." Flying to first in a situation where failure is almost guaranteed just isn't cool. It's the baseball equivalent to Wood Harrelson warming up before taking the court in White Men Can't Dunk.

Interesting answers so far.

FWIW, I put a new function into my scoring program so I could get pitchers’ times to the plate and hitters’ contact-2-contact time to 1^st, and tested it by scoring every game of this year’s WS. I couldn’t get every time because I was limited to what the cameras showed. It was limited almost exclusively to GBs.

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roothog wrote:

"I think what we see has nothing to do with avoiding injury or conserving energy. It's more about what the mlb culture considers 'cool.' Flying to first in a situation where failure is almost guaranteed just isn't cool."

I agree.

Also, my remarks about stuntmen was a lame attempt at humor.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that speed on the bases puts pressure on the defense whether it’s the Major Leagues or Little League. The difference is the likelihood the pressure will cause a misplay of some sort.

I don't know how lame it was: I thought it was funny.

I disagree and think that baseball players are indeed athletes very much in the same sense as basketball and football players are. . . .particularly at the pro level.  After all, they're playing almost every day for the teams 162 games schedule (compared that to 82 games for basketball and 16 for football teams).  

Pro baseball season is long and physically draining. That's why they need to be in as good physical shape as possible as any other sport athlete.

It can be a situational issue. huh?

 I agree to some extent that culture plays a roll.   But I'd say that for the most part, it's really a situational issue.

As players get older they get injured more easily.  To make it to the Major Leagues and to stay a player must avoid injuries and be careful about risk taking, including running, sliding and diving.  A 25 year old body can't take the same punishment as a 20 year old and MLB/MiLB don't care how or why you got injured, they just move on without you. 

This is not an argument we buy in any other sport. Could you imagine the db in football who just lets the receiver go after the catch because, "I'm 25, don't have much of a chance of catching him and don't want to pull anything." ? I don't see what "punishment" a body takes in baseball by semi-sprinting 30 yards three or four times a night. I just don't get the argument.

The situation can definitely change how the hitter runs to 1B.  The sharp one hopper to the first baseman is obviously different than the big hop between the first and second baseman. One the hitter is out by the time he has two strides, the other creates a possible close play at 1B.

There is a difference between running full blast, running fast, and not running it out.  Every runner knows when the ball is hit what the possibilities are.  So instinctively they might run full out on some plays more than others.  

What I say is unacceptable is simply giving up and loafing to 1B before the play Is made. The one hopper fielded cleanly by the pitcher is one thing. The ground ball to the SS is another.  I think the vast majority of players at every level, including the Big Leagues, run out ground balls and fly balls.

BTW, running to 1B a couple times a game is not very hard or taxing for a professional athlete.  And one thing about baseball, you get to rest every inning.

People can do what they want, loafing to 1B is unacceptable for any position player. If everyone did it, you would be on a losing team.  Some sprint off and on the field at full speed, I don't have a problem with that, but it sure isn't necessary.  However running out ground balls is necessary. It creates infield hits and can create errors.  It would be interesting to know just how many infield hits and errors happen during a season.

Does anyone really want their power hitters loafing to 1B.  Not talking about running 100% on every play, but running it out to 1B.  How much energy do they conserve by not running it out.  Isn't it part of the game?    

Hmmmm????  Is that all you see a baseball player doing?  Really?

Gnats, are the MLB players messing up your program?

No. Of course not. My question is do you really think that adding an extra couple of 30 yard sprints at 80% is going to appreciably add to any "punishment" on a 25yo athlete?  I just find it an argument you wouldn't dare make concerning basketball or football players.

Personally, I prefer players always running it out as hard as possible to work the probabilities of getting extra bases.  So, my remarks are not to suggest that they shouldn't.  My point is that there are situations, often unknown to observers (e.g. something happened during pregame warm-ups that the trainer suggests to the player to take it a little easy), that could influence a runner as to whether or not they run full tilt in any particular situation.

It's easy to look at something in isolation and say the player should do or have done this or that.  

How much energy they might conserve by not running it out just might depend on how much energy is left in the tank. 

We sort of buy it in other sports when the outcome is almost a certainty.  Take a fast break steal in basketball that results in an easy dunk.  You don't usually see 5 defenders chasing him down at full speed (you might not see any).  Or a pick 6 on a short pass out in the flat 20 yards from the end zone.  If it's a gimme guys tend to concede the putt, so to speak.

Different cases. In basketball, you don't often see a guy give up the fast break on the dunk standing still. They at least turn and head that direction for the occasional missed dunk even if they don't go full out. Now, your big guy under the basket may not run down court, but your guards better. Additionally, they are going to have to take the ball out of bounds anyway. In football, the pick six in the flat isn't a good example because usually your receiver is heading the other way and by the time he even looks back, the play is over. However, on other interceptions, I definitely see guys chasing even when they have no chance.

First, let's recognize that this is not a new debate.  When Pete Rose first acquired  the nickname "Charlie Hustle," it was not meant as a compliment.  Mickey Mantle himself pegged that on him when Rose was young, maybe even as a rookie, after watching him go full blast to first in a spring training game -- can't recall if it was on a clear out or maybe even a walk.  Rose decided he liked the nickname.  But clearly, some guys thought he was trying to show them up.  That story is now well over 50 years old.

Second, this is not limited to baseball.  There's a story about Kareem Abdul Jabbar telling rookie Magic Johnson to pace himself for the long haul, that the college-like all-out, emotionally charged approach to playing wouldn't work over the course of the NBA's long season.  That story is maybe 35+ years old.

It's not even limited to sports.  As a young man, my father worked for a short while in a West Va. coal mine.  He approached the job from the standpoint of trying to keep it.  More seasoned employees came to him quietly and suggested he, too, pace himself and not make them look bad.

In the case of Bryce Harper, he can't seem to win.  When he plays like his hair's on fire, people point to some of his injuries and say he has to "be smarter" and choose his spots so that he can remain in the lineup every day.  When he then goes 70% down the line on a routine out, someone jumps on his case for that. 

I think the answer is somewhere in between.  First, I don't think anyone should EVER loaf down the line.  But for a pro guy who has a ton of money invested in him to run full out without reason is indeed a great way to pull a hamstring, especially if the weather is very hot or perhaps somewhat chilly.  But when the play is going to be close or when the game is tight or if you're in a critical situation with a playoff berth or a World Series game on the line, you bust it.  Footnote:  I still never like to see guys dive into first unless they're evading a tag, because that both slows you down and raises a substantial risk of injury.

At the high school level, there are so few games, and the games are only 7 innings so you get relatively fewer AB's as well, that I think it's reasonable to expect a kid to bust it every play.  After all, one play can turn a game, and one game can turn a season when there are so few games in the season in the first place.

At the collegiate level, I think you've got an honest debate, and the approach here is to do as your head coach tells you. 

Originally Posted by PGStaff:

… It would be interesting to know just how many infield hits and errors happen during a season. …

Well, I can show you what that looked like on our team in the 2015 season.

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Not at all as far as I know. Why do you ask?

At least at the MLB level, the difference isn't normally between busting it 100% and loafing, it's between busting it 100% and going hard enough to be safe on a typical MLB error.  Plays where the difference would have been made by going harder down the line are rare, mostly because in situations where it would matter, MLB players have enough situational awareness to expend the extra effort appropriately.

At lower levels (like HS), where fielding is less reliable, the opportunity cost of a potential injury is lower, and the situational awareness of the players is more suspect, it makes more sense to teach players to go all out all the time.

Yadier Molina often trots slowly to first on routine fly outs or ground outs. Every time I see him do it, I:

A) Understand that he's a catcher, and a darned good one -- who needs to preserve his legs to help the team

B) Think about young players who may get the wrong idea watching him

In the end, 'A' wins out for me.