Generating Offense Cornerstone!

GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE!

Generating Offense Without Hitting

Many times, you will hear coaches and players mistakenly refer to offense strictly as "hitting." They will say things such as "we just didn't hit today," or "we could not hit that pitcher." There is no doubt that on a day when you don't score many runs, those statements are true, however this rationale shows an imperfect understanding of how runs are scored. Coaches and players need to realize that some days, you will not be able to “hit” the pitcher. On days like these, you need to be able to score runs without hitting. This four part series will look at the various ways to generate offense without hitting.

Part I: Getting on base

There are seven different ways a batter can reach base safely. Two of the seven, are largely out of the control of the hitter (catcher’s interference, drop third strike), and one of them (ﬁelder’s choice) requires that someone already be on base and gives no real offensive advantage. Other than getting a hit, there are three ways to get on base that offense has control over: walk, hit by pitch, or reaching base due to an error. Let’s examine each of those three carefully to determine how your players can give themselves the best chance to get on base without getting a hit.

Hit by pitch: Watch a high school or college game and you will hear screams of “wear it!” or “we got ice!” coming from the offensive teams dugout anytime a player jumps out of the way of a pitch. Whether you teach your kids to stand in the box and take a pitch off their body or not is an ethical dilemma that each coach and player will have to sort out. Usually there is little negative side effect from

Copyright 2013 © Cornerstone Coaching Academy GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE! getting hit by a pitch other than a bruise, however it is undeniable that getting hit by a baseball poses some risk for injury, and puts a player’s safety at risk.

There is one area where most coaches and players will agree, and that is hanging in on breaking balls. When a hitter sees a breaking ball inside, they need to hold their ground. Sometimes the ball will take the break, and end up in the strike zone, other times it won’t and will end up inside, and may hit the batter. Either way, holding in the box is a winning strategy, you increase the possibility of hitting a breaking ball, and you increase the chances of getting on base via a hit by pitch.

Reaching on an error: It may not be apparent how the offensive team can affect the defense’s ability to make a play. There are two basic ways the offense can impact the defense’s ability to make plays. The ﬁrst is by hitting the ball hard, but remember this is a day when we are not hitting well, so hitting the ball hard may not happen very often. The second is simply to hustle out of the box on every single ball put in play. The more pressure you put on the opposing defense by hustling out of the box, even if you are not that fast, will increase the chances they make an error by trying to hurry a throw.

As a coach, you have the ability increase your players’ willingness to hustle in several ways, many of them depend on your individual coaching style and may vary from coach to coach. One proven method is to point out to the whole team examples of players whose hustle causes opponents errors. I have found that positive reinforcement is a great tool for molding behavior.

Taking walks: It is a misconception that a walk is only the result of a wild pitcher. It is no coincidence that the same players are at or near the top of MLB in walks year after year after year. One of the keys to taking walks on a regular basis is having a patient approach at the plate. This approach is not one that actively seeks walks. This approach has one simple goal, getting a good pitch to hit. This approach requires your players to do three things. First, your players must be patient. Second, they must not swing at pitches early in the count just because they are strikes and thirdly, players cannot be afraid to hit with a two strike count.

Other than producing more walks by being patient, waiting for your pitch and working counts deep, you are also running up the pitcher’s pitch count. On a day when you are not able to generate offense by hitting, the pitcher is unlikely

Copyright 2013 © Cornerstone Coaching Academy GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE! to have to pitch in many tough situations and is unlikely to throw a lot of pitches. Since he is obviously difﬁcult to hit, you would like to get him out of the game. It is possible through being patient to run up a starting pitcher’s pitch count that he will need to be removed from the game.

Days when you cannot hit can be very frustrating for coaches and hitters alike, but rest assured, there are many things that are in your control that your team can do to get runners on base. As you know, getting runners on base is only one part of the run scoring equation. When you do get runners on, the coach has to make a difﬁcult decision. Do you try to make something happen by putting runners in motion or bunting, or do you let your hitters try to break through and come up with a few big hits.

To many coaches, the answer is clear, you try to force the issue and try to make something happen. Even though this may seem obvious, I caution you not to just automatically put on a sacriﬁce bunt, straight steal or hit and run in an attempt to break through. I encourage you to consider the situation carefully to determine which of those methods will work best in any given situation.

Know your personnel

It sounds very simple, but many coaches do not truly know who on their team can bunt, bunt for a hit, run, get good jumps, or put the ball in play consistently. In order to obtain this knowledge, you should take time out of practice to watch base runners stealing live against pitchers and catcher, watch hitters sacrifice and bunt for hits against live pitching. You should also take time out of practice to time players in the 60 yard dash, home to first, first to third, and from their leadoff to second base. All of this information will play a role in your decision to bunt, hit and run, straight steal, or let your hitters try to move the runners on their own.

Sacriﬁce bunt

On a day when you are not hitting, or you are facing a pitcher who doesn’t give up too many hits, I see very little value in bunting a runner from ﬁrst to second. However, it may be beneﬁcial to try to create some havoc with bunting. So instead of bunting with giving up an out in mind, but with the idea of creating havoc and putting pressure on the defense.

I do believe that moving a runner from second to third, or from ﬁrst and second to second and third is a much better move, especially in a close and late situation. Getting a runner to third with less than two outs in a low scoring game is a big deal. There are several ways you can score from third with less than two outs and in a game where you may not score many runs, every run is precious.

How do you know when you should sacriﬁce bunt a runner from second to third? If the middle of our order is up, or one of your better hitters is up, I would recommend letting them swing away. Even though you aren’t hitting much on that day, I still believe it is a bad idea to take the bat out of your best hitters hands to move a runner 90 feet. I would also advise against bunting a runner to third if you have a very fast, good baserunner on second. If you have one of your best base runners on second, it may be a good idea to let your hitter swing away with no outs, then try to steal third with one out if he doesn’t move the runner or come up with a big hit.

Moving a runner to third by a sacrifice bunt is a good idea when you need only one run late in the game, or if have weak hitters who put the ball in play coming up. They may not be likely to get a hit, but they may be able to hit a ground ball or sacrifice fly to score the runner. Likewise, it is a bad idea to bunt a runner to third in front of someone who strikes out on a regular basis.

A lesson that I learned early in my coaching career is to be careful bunting runners over to put your best hitter at the plate. During one of my ﬁrst years of coaching, we had runners on ﬁrst and second late in the game with our number two hitter up. Our third hitter was by far our best hitter, so I bunted the runners to second and third hoping he could come up with a hit to give us the lead (we were down one run). As you might expect, the opposing coach intentionally walked our best hitter to set up a double play, which our number four hitter inevitably grounded into. Lesson learned.

Bunt for a hit

If you feel as I do that giving up an out to move a runner 90 feet is not a good trade in many situations, bunt for a hit is a much better alternative to sacrifice bunt. Bunting for a hit (as a method to move runners) is best used when there are no strikes, nobody out and runners on first, second or first and second.

When bunting for a hit, your hitters show a little later (around the pitchers foot strike), and try to put the ball on the third base line. When we are bunting for a hit we are trying to put pressure on the defense. The best possible

Copyright 2013 © Cornerstone Coaching Academy GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE! outcome is that we will cause the inﬁelders to rush their throws and we will be able to advance multiple bases on an error. The next best outcome is that we will beat the throw to ﬁrst. A neutral outcome would be if we make an out but advance the runner. Anything other than that would be considered a negative outcome.

Be sure that you practice bunting for a hit as much, or more than you practice sacrifice bunting since it is a more difficult skill to master (different bunting techniques will likely be a future blog topic). Next time you feel compelled to sacrifice bunt, give bunt for a hit a try. If your hitter goes to one strike, then you can use another method of trying to move the runner.

Hit and Run

Hit and run is a good tactic to use when you have a good runner on (not a great runner), when you have someone at the plate who handles the bat well and is able to put the ball in play. I will generally try a hit and run in a fastball count (1-0, 2-1) or after a pitcher throws a ball with a curveball with less than two strikes (very rarely will a pitcher throw a curveball for a ball then come back with another).

If you are unable to move the runner with no outs, you should consider using a hit and run with one out. A hit and run opens up the inﬁeld, it puts pressure on the opposing defense, and creates an opportunity for a big inning. If your hit and run is successful, you will have moved the runner to 3rd (not just to 2nd) with one out.

Straight Steal

Obviously a straight steal has a high “risk/reward” play. To minimize the risk and maximize the reward, choosing the appropriate time to run is key. Trying to move a runner into scoring position with two outs, or trying to move a runner to third with one out are examples of times when the reward of a successful steal attempt may outweigh the risk of being thrown out.

I personally believe that a straight steal can be a good strategy when used in the correct situation. One of the biggest keys is to know the numbers. Make sure that you time the pitchers delivery to home, and the catchers “pop” time (the time from his glove to the glove at the base). You should also know your players leadoff to second base times in a game situation (you can get these times during practice by setting up realistic stealing situations). If the pitchers

Copyright 2013 © Cornerstone Coaching Academy GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE! delivery time plus the catcher’s pop time is less than your runner’s leadoff to second time, stealing may be difﬁcult. If the pop time plus pitcher’s deliver time is more than your runner’s time, you should have success stealing.

That is a very simplistic view of stealing a base, and we all know there are many more variables that go into it. Another key to stealing a base is choosing a curveball count. Curveball counts are any count where the pitcher is ahead (0-1, 1-2, 0-2) or any even count where the pitcher threw a fastball strike on the previous pitch. Additionally, knowing how a pitcher has attacked different hitters in your lineup may help you pick a curveball to run on. A full count is also a good time to run when you have a hitter who puts the ball in play.

Another strategy you can use to help your runners in this case is to have your hitter “protect” the runner with less than two strikes. If you put the straight steam on with less than two strikes, your hitter should swing through any pitch they don’t want to hit in order to give protection to your runner. Make sure they swing slightly after the ball has crossed the hitting zone and that they do not interfere with the catcher.

Getting Runners In

After a runner is moved over, someone has to knock them in. On days when your team is not hitting, this can be a very tall task. Coaches must put the emphasis on taking a quality at bat, not necessarily getting a hit with a runner on third and less than two outs.

Squeeze bunt

I am not a big fan of the suicide squeeze play. When it works, it looks glamorous and there is virtually no chance of throwing the runner out. When it doesn’t work, it can lead to game changing outs. My personal belief is that the reward doesn’t out weight the risk in virtually all cases. If the pitcher throws a pitch that is unbuntable, if the the batter bunts through the pitch, or if the batter pops the ball up, you are staring one or two outs straight in the face.

I do believe that a safety squeeze can be a the a good strategy in the right situation. Again, knowing your personnel is crucial when deciding if you should attempt a safety squeeze. You will want an average or above average runner at third and an average or above average bunter at the plate. The batter squares late (like a suicide) and tries to bunt the ball to the ﬁrst basemen (sorry to pick

Copyright 2013 © Cornerstone Coaching Academy GENERATING OFFENSE CORNERSTONE! on them but they are usually the worst athlete on the inﬁeld). The runner from third takes a slightly bigger than usual secondary lead and breaks toward the plate when the ball is down. This much safer than, and equally effective to a suicide squeeze. A very good time to attempt a safety squeeze is with runners at ﬁrst and third and nobody out and your #9, #1, or #2 hitters at the plate (again depending on personnel). The plus side of a safety squeeze at this point in the game is you will likely score the run from third and move a runner into scoring position with one out. The negative of a safety squeeze in that situation is that you will likely make an out and may take yourself out of a potential big inning.

Hitting with runner on third and less than two outs

There are two main types of balls in play that will score runs with a runner at third and less than two outs, ground balls infielders playing deep, or fly balls of medium or deep depth. Your players should know what type of hitters they are and should know use that knowledge to know what their objective is in their at bat. Stronger hitters should be looking to drive the ball to the outfield early in the count, then just put the ball in play late in the count. Weaker hitters should be trying to put the ball in play on the ground (even with a drawn in infield, think lots of holes) in all counts. The biggest goal for all hitters in all counts in with a runner at third and less than two outs should be to put the ball in play and hope something good happens. This may mean shortening your swing with one strike instead of two. Strikeouts with less than two outs and a runner on third can kill a team in a close, low scoring game. I would not recommend swinging at pitches that you would not normally swing at. Remember, taking a walk in almost any situation is a good outcome.

A few other tactics

With one out, runners at first and second and a potential double play ground ball, if your runner is average or above average at second and goes hard between second and third, automatically send the runner from second home. In the event that they don’t turn the double play, or they bobble the ball at first, you may be able to steal a cheap run. When you have runners at third and two outs, have your runner be a little more aggressive on passed balls and wild pitches. As soon as they see the down angle of the ball, they should take an extra step or shuffle, and be ready to break for the plate if the ball bounces far enough from the catcher.

1st and 3rd offense:

I will not get specific with the techniques of different first and third offenses here, but putting in some good first and third plays to steal a run could be a good idea. A few of the ones to investigate are walk off from first base, run and stop, delayed steal from first, double steal and many others.

Even when your team is not hitting, there are a lot of ways to generate offense. Of course, there is one thing that MUST happen in order to win if your team is not hitting... you must pitch well!

For further details on generating offense, hitting mechanics, hitting philosophy, and conditioning for hitters, check out our Generating Offense and Hitting Course at http://www.cornerstonecoachingacademy.com/generating-offense- and-hitting-online/