West Fargo Patriots Baserunning Drills:

Burma Road: 1. Running and – swing a bat and out of the box in a straight line to 1B and hit the front of the bag (don’t lunge, take two small steps). Once past the bag, widen your feet to slow down and look and listen in case there’s an overthrow. Turn inside and walk back to the bag – no move to 2B. 2. Running out a – run straight down the line and make a wide round about 2/3 of the way to the base, hit the inside of the base and round it hard. You need to be thinking even though it’s a single. Put pressure on the defense to complete the play – make them pay if they don’t. 3. Double – same as previous, but really hit the inside and push toward 2B. A small round before 1B will mean a lot less steps going toward 2B. Stop at the bag – don’t get in bad habits. 4. – same as double but emphasize hitting the inside of 2B too and pushing toward 3B. In a game you have to be thinking , and if you are, go ahead and do it, don’t switch at the last minute. NEVER MAKE THE 1ST OR 3RD OUT OF THE AT 3RD BASE!!! 5. – same.

Leading off 1B: Three players at a time can do this with a pitcher faking a to the plate 1. Taking the lead – get sign from the coach, then lead off. Never take your eyes off the pitcher if you are off the base. Lead off without crossing your feet and take half steps so that your feet don’t come together. Right foot should be slightly behind the left so that you can open up and run to second easier when you steal. Get as big a lead as you can safely get – put pressure on the defense. 2. Getting a good, , secondary lead – when pitch is thrown, two big shuffles. We practice this along with someone hitting fungos to make it seem more realistic. 3. Stealing second – explosive first step. Your preparation for this moment starts in the . You need to get your cues before you ever get out there, if possible. Watch back heel or front shoulder – depends on the pitcher. Try to pick up subtle signs that he is going to home (does he lean, moves his hands, etc.) 4. Delayed steal of second – two big shuffles, stop, then go. Our hope is that the catcher and middle infielders are lazy – we look to take advantage of this.

Leading off 2B: talk them through this and demonstrate. 1. Lead off behind the baseline and creep toward the pitcher/batter when pitcher is in set position. Creeping is to get you moving and to get you closer to 2B. 2. Get a big secondary lead, but pay attention so that no catcher can pick you off. 3B can be easy to steal if the pitcher falls into a pattern – watch for it. NEVER TRY TO STEAL 3RD WITH NO OUTS OR TWO OUTS!!!

Leading off 3B: talk them through this and demonstrate. 1. Lead off in foul territory and come back to the bag in fair territory – tougher throw from a catcher 2. Know the situation – where are the infielders at? How many outs? What’s the score? Who is up and who’s coming up? All of these things will dictate what you do on certain balls. If you do the thinking beforehand, you will be more successful and won’t hesitate or make bad decisions when a ball is hit. 3. Freeze on any line drive – with less than 2 outs 4. Get back to the base on any fly ball – with less than 2 outs 5. Talk to your coach – discuss the situation – remind yourself of situations

Favorite Baserunning drill: 1. Put one runner at every base and home plate 2. Tell every runner on base that they are the only runner on base 3. Hit a fungo and have them react to what happens a. Fly ball - 2B and 3B , 1B goes halfway more or less, batter rounds first base hard. b. Ground ball – 3B assumes corners are in, middle is back, 2B advances if ball is behind them, 1B goes hard to stay out of DP, and batter runs hard through the bag at first. 4. Hit fungoes have different situations – see how they think ahead and what decisions are made.

Another Baserunning drill: 1. Runners at 1B, 2B, and 3B, and two batters. a. One batter gets a double and one gets an infield hit – runner with a single will stay at 1B and the other runner will go to 2B. b. Runner at 1B goes from 1st to 3rd on a basehit c. Runner on 2B will score on a single d. Runner on 3B will tag up and score – we teach our runners to watch to tag themselves, coach will be down the line to help with decision, but they should assume they are going. 2. All players will run at the same time – works pretty well

***Baserunning gets ignored by a lot of teams. It’s a huge part of the game and needs to be practiced in somewhat realistic conditions***