This page intentionally left blank. BASEBALL STRATEGIES American Baseball Coaches Association Jack Stallings Bob Bennett Editors Note: This e-book reproduces the text of the printed book, but it may not include images, tables, or figures that have restrictions on electronic distribution. Human Kinetics Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Baseball strategies / American Baseball Coaches Association ; Jack Stallings, Bob Bennett, editors. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-7360-4218-0 (soft cover) 1. Baseball--Coaching. I. Stallings, Jack. II. Bennett, Bob. III. American Baseball Coaches Association. GV875.5 .B39 2003 796.357'07'7--dc21 2002011357 ISBN-10: 0-7360-4218-0 (print) ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-4218-5 (print) ISBN-10: 0-7360-8501-7 (Adobe PDF) ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8501-4 (Adobe PDF) Copyright © 2003 by Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. 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For details, contact the Special Sales Manager at Human Kinetics. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Human Kinetics Web site: www.HumanKinetics.com United States: Human Kinetics Australia: Human Kinetics P.O. Box 5076 57A Price Avenue Champaign, IL 61825-5076 Lower Mitcham, South Australia 5062 800-747-4457 08 8372 0999 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Canada: Human Kinetics New Zealand: Human Kinetics 475 Devonshire Road Unit 100 Division of Sports Distributors NZ Ltd. Windsor, ON N8Y 2L5 P.O. Box 300 226 Albany 800-465-7301 (in Canada only) North Shore City e-mail: [email protected] Auckland 0064 9 448 1207 Europe: Human Kinetics e-mail: [email protected] 107 Bradford Road Stanningley Leeds LS28 6AT, United Kingdom +44 (0) 113 255 5665 e-mail: [email protected] We wish to pay tribute to the fine coaches who have contributed chapters to this book and to the coaches and administrators who have made comments and suggestions concerning its contents and writing. In addition, we ap- preciate the many comments from coaches and players who recognized the need for a book on baseball strategy and urged that such a book be written. Bob Bennett Jack Stallings Contents Preface vi Setting the Stage for Strategic Baseball ix Andy Baylock PART I Offense 1 1 1 Determining the Lineup and Batting Order 3 Richard “Itch” Jones 2 2 Scouting and Studying the Opposition 15 Chuck Hartman 3 3 Using Signals for Hitting and Base Running 25 Mike Gillespie 4 4 Hitting Strategy 31 Mark Johnson 5 5 Base-Running Strategy 53 Danny Hall 6 6 Decision-Making in Specific Offensive 67 Situations Jack Stallings PART II Pitching 93 7 7 Shutting Down Hitters 95 Keith Madison 8 8 Stopping Base Runners 115 Bob Bennett iv 9 9 Fielding the Position 139 Geoff Zahn 1010 Working a Game 155 John Winkin 1111 Handling Pitchers 179 Steve Hertz PART III Defense 201 1212 Setting the Lineup: Positions 2 Through 9 203 Jim Morris 1313 Defensive Positioning 219 George Horton 1414 Defensive Tactics 243 Bob Morgan PART IV Fine-Tuning Your Strategic Approach 277 1515 Adjusting for Different Levels of 279 Competition John Herbold 1616 Adapting the Game Plan for Different 297 Situations Dick Birmingham 1717 Playing the Game the Right Way 317 Bobo Brayton Index 333 About the ABCA 339 About the Editors 341 About the Contributors 343 v Preface What? Another book on baseball? And a book on baseball strategy! Why? Because many baseball people who have been involved in the game for a long time say that strategy is the most misunderstood aspect of the game. Books, videotapes, magazine and newspaper articles, and clinic presenta- tions usually focus on the skills and fundamentals of the game. Certainly those aspects of the game are much needed in our efforts to improve the coaching and playing of the game. In recent years, more emphasis has been placed on the psychology of coaching. Many coaches now understand bet- ter how to motivate players and develop their mental skills. But anyone who has seen a coach bring his infield in with a runner on third and a four-run lead in the ninth inning will immediately conclude that a book on baseball strategy is badly needed! This book focuses on the various aspects of baseball strategy and what goes into the thoughts of a coach or player as he makes a strategic decision during a game. Most base- ball books are about doing—throwing or hitting the curveball, turning the double play, or throwing to the cutoff man. This book is about thinking; if you think first, you will know the correct thing to do. This book is unique in that it addresses every aspect of baseball strategy under one cover. It is written for coaches, players, and fans of baseball, by some of the best coaches in the sport. They share the expertise they have acquired over years of successfully competing and coaching at the highest levels. The writers make up a veritable Who’s Who in the baseball-coaching world. Their experience and skills in coaching baseball make each uniquely qualified to contribute to this book. This book is for the ballplayer or coach who is interested in reaching his full potential, and that means sharpening physical and mental skills and developing a good understanding of baseball strategy. This book is written for coaches and players because players must understand proper strategy if they are to play the game aggressively and make those split-second deci- sions needed during a game. Players enhance their instincts and reactions to game situations when they understand the strategy needed at a particu- lar time in the game. Because players know ahead of time what to do, they can act quickly, correctly, and confidently. Some would say they act instinc- tively, but they really act not on instinct, but through knowledge and un- derstanding of strategy. What percentage of the time does the average coach spend teaching strat- egy? What portion of his time does a player devote to thinking about strat- egy? Is it 10 percent? Is it 5 percent or 3 percent? Whatever the total, it usu- ally isn’t much, so players must either guess what to do (and often guess wrong) or rely on signals and instructions from the coach, a process that is vi Preface slow and at times confusing. All coaches teach players what to do, many also teach them how to do it, but the best coaches also teach them why they do it, and that means teaching proper strategy. Baseball Strategies is a book you can read once and then turn back to re- peatedly. Read a section or chapter that interests you and come back to it again in a few days or weeks. When something comes up in a game that was confusing and led to some indecision, turn to the appropriate chapter to find out what one of the authors has to say about that particular situa- tion. The book is divided into four parts. Part I deals with offensive strategy and includes advice on setting the lineup and batting order, scouting the opposition, establishing an effective signaling system, and executing sound hitting and base-running strategies. You will also learn what factors to con- sider when planning a strategic move and which strategies are most suc- cessful in specific offensive situations. Part II deals with the strategy of pitching and includes shutting down hitters, stopping base runners, the pitcher’s role in fielding, working a game, and the all-important handling of pitchers. Coaching a pitching staff is challenging work. How many pitches should be thrown in practice and in games? How can each pitcher get enough work to be and stay effective? Along with dealing with the pitching staff, the coach has the even greater challenge of managing the game. Ideas and ex- amples that have stood the test of time are carefully brought to light. The third part deals with baseball defense and includes setting the lineup of the defensive players, positioning defensive players, and defensive tac- tics. Some coaches and players seem to have a knack for knowing how to play each hitter. Some are uncanny at compiling and putting to use pages of statistics and other details to help defend against their opponents. Some of the greatest defensive minds in college baseball offer their methods and systems of defensive tactics. They will show us regular and special defenses and help us devise our own methods and systems. The fourth part has to do with fine-tuning your strategy by adjusting it for different levels of competition, adapting the game plan for different situ- ations, and playing the game the right way. The same strategy may not work for all situations. Adjustments may be necessary. Part IV is one of the most valuable parts of the book. Learning how to adapt to different situa- tions is one of the true lessons in life. Baseball is no exception. The authors of these chapters will tell wonderful stories about their experiences. Each of us can gain insight into how this game should be played. We can also gain much from the words concerning how to fine-tune strategy. Coaches must understand the percentages of baseball; we all know that nothing will be successful all the time, but we want to understand what will be successful most of the time in a particular situation. A coach may occasionally make a snap decision that really doesn’t make any sense and vii Preface have success, but it doesn’t happen often. Coaches should make strategy decisions by considering the percentages, based on the situation and abilities of the players involved, both their players and their opponent’s players. Walter Rabb, the veteran coach at the University of North Carolina, used to say, “You will do OK if you just remember that you don’t coach baseball, you coach baseball players!” Perhaps the most common mistake coaches make in reaching strategic decisions is failing to think about the most important thing—the abilities of the players involved. Strategy can be as simple as a basic move in a game of checkers or as involved as the most difficult move in a chess match. Strategy is constant. It is everywhere and in every inning. It involves decision making. Some deci- sions are easy to make, whereas others are difficult. Decisions made from a background of knowledge produce the best results. When both the coach and the players have knowledge and understanding of the strategy, team- work blossoms and the likelihood of a successful outcome improves. Pete Beiden, the late Hall of Fame coach from Fresno State, used a simple offen- sive signal system to teach his players about strategy. His signals were ei- ther “Yes” or “No.” When he flashed a “Yes” signal, he expected the batter or runner to execute the proper play for that particular situation. There is more than one way to approach any situation in the game. This book is filled with examples of how coaches may approach a problem in different ways, but they all use sound thinking, based on percentages, to solve the problem. One coach will make no move, while another coach may make several moves in the same set of circumstances. Either may be right or wrong. The important issue is the thought process that went into making the decision. If the strategy used was based on sound fundamental prin- ciples and was developed based on percentages that applied to that situa- tion, chances are that a good decision was made. viii