shortstop play priority

Question
QUESTION: Thank you for for volunteering your time. I am a volunteer on here on home electrical problems.

It takes time and and I know the difficulty of understanding the questions.

Here is mine.

No outs tied game middle innings. No one on base. Batter hits ball to right. Ball is misplayed and runner advances toward second.

Outfielder in right makes a throw to second covered by shortstop. it is close enough, no relay to second baseman.

Ball is low but with enough time to make tag play.

Should the shortstop play the ball to block it from getting by him, or get in a position to scoop ball and pivot for tag to get out, knowing that the defense, [pitcher maybe] is backing up play.

Is the priority to block the ball, or to make the tag?

Should the shortstop be confident in going for the out, the absolute priority, or be safe about it and kneel down and block the ball with no chance of getting the runner on a tag?

Any opinion or guidance is greatly appreciated.

Will
ANSWER: Hi Will,

nice to chat with a fellow volunteer!  I'll sway an electrical question with you afterwards...

Interesting question.   

I would advise the SS to always go for the tag when possible. Of course, it depends on the throw. IF the team is well coached defensively, the left fielder is already coming in to cover a mis-throw as the SS goes for the tag.  Worse case, SS does not make the tag but should make the catch and runner is held on base.  

I always told my players that the team should move as one - covering each other and the throwing angles.  Try for those tags whenever possible - an attempt that may one day mean the difference between winning and losing a crucial game.  

It's hard to dupicate those incidents during practices, so why play safe?

Regards,

JohnMc

Q:  when calculating the load on a combined series and parallel circuit, do you begin with the series resistors or the parallel resistors?







---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Great answer! I agree completely. The infielder should feel secure to do whatever it takes to grap the ball one handed and go for the out, knowing the possiblity of the ball getting by will be backed up.

The Coaches on our team always get on the individual for not blocking the ball as a priority, stupid Coaching is all I can say.

It is small thinking and no concept of the big picture, plus no training of the team moving together, which by the way I like your phrase a lot!

Well no way to prove this I can't find anything written by anyone on middle infield play that covers what the priority should be.

I wish I had some book or something to show them, but I have quite the library and I think it is more an understood kind of thing than a procedure.

On your question I was taught to go for parallel first then it is just an accumulation.

Make sense?


You did!

Thanks so much, you sound like a great Coach!

Will
ANSWER: Hi Will,

you're welcome.  I'm glad I could be of service.

I always talk to my players after a game, giving them an overview of what I witnessed and reassuring them of the good plays they made.  Better to do this while it's still fresh in all our minds.  If a player made an attempt to tag an failed, I sometimes would acknowledge this as a good attempt.  Those who trapped the ball and played safe were usually reminded by me or the outfield coaches to make the effort the next time.  How else will they learn?

For the older kids (12 to 15) I tried to duplicate game situations in my practices.  The example you gave is a classic play for 2nd base and most SS should practice for such a play.  Remember the old adage - practice like you play and play like you practice.  

I always thought constant coverage and 'heads up' ball play was key to defensive baseball. Blocking the throw when a tag is possible is no better than playing the cut-off and watching the runner stand up on 2nd.  IF the team plays to win, why not take the chance for the tag?  If the coach does not want them to make an effort, when will the team learn to do this?

Thanks for the electrical lesson.  My son is studying Physics and I was helping him with some homework.  What you suggest makes sense and fits into the format that the teacher is using.  I vaguely remembered Ohm's law and the V=I*R triangle formula and how it would apply.  I used your suggestion on two questions and the answers came easier.  

thanks again.

Johnmc

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QUESTION: Physics! Perfect. To sign up to study physics is enough to draw complete awe and admiration or question the person's sanity.

That is great, and you are helping! Wow, I am just past 50 and I help with my 17 year old Daughter's homework.

Subjects are not taught like they used to be. I struggle, but get there eventually.

Physics is cool because as you know there is so much of it in sports.

While we are chatting, I ran into an article the other day in some sports magazine or blog or something.

This one mixes physics and baseball and human ability.

The article says that scientists studying baseball have not determined if it is possible for a Major League Batter [I guess it could be anyone actually] to actually see a Major league fastball from that distance MAKE CONTACT with the bat.

It went into all kind of formulas and testing [I wonder too -who pays for all this?] and the final results were inconclusive.

I teach my kids [1st through adult, been coaching for almost thirty years] to watch the bat hit the ball.

My favorite drill for teaching hitting is a simple junk tee.

You have to see the bat hit the ball or get real lucky, some of it is muscle memory, but not all.

My second favorite teaching method is to have the team on defense in every position.

Player 10 is the "coach' and hits first a fly ball to 7, 8, 9, then 5, 6, 4, 3, 1 then tap one down the baseline for 2.

Then we go back and hit line drives to each position.

Then we go back and hit ground balls to each position.

I honestly think it works better for softball players but I see better baseball batters are able to free toss a ball in the air and hit wherever they want. I think it is excellent muscle memory training, excellent watching the bat hit the ball training.

Plus if you can learn to hit the ball TO someone, then you should be able to hit where someone is NOT standing.

I got off the path there a bit sorry. So what do you think?

Can an average Major League Player SEE the pitched ball hit the bat?

Brett without any hesitancy, says he can see the compression of the ball if it hits the bat, with the seams in a position, that allows him a reference.

So have others.

I am teaching right now 12 year olds to still "see the bat hit the ball"  "watch it happen" and on a variation of the old colored dots on balls, I use this one.....if they have green barrel bat I use "see Green hit white", or "see red hit white".

We hit pretty damn good as a team. I have since give it up so my son has experience without DAD as a Coach.

I hate it because I see so many non trained Coaches who always wanted to be somebody and never were, out there making a mess of the game and the attitudes of the kids.

Let alone fundamentals.

The shortstop or second base play is one example, that baseball goes a lot deeper than three outs.

As for blocking a ball on the way to the outfield off a bat, absolutely, but there are times when the ball is coming into the infield where you should have every player in position, and the player should never hesitate to take a chance to get an out.

Of course using two hands to block or catch a thrown ball is much safer and much more of a chance the ball will be caught but it takes away the chance of making a tag in most cases.

If you are told to shift around like you are fielding a batted ball, you can't sweep tag, stab the ball behind a base and move it in front, in position for the runner's sliding foot.

Also more outs at second {I believe] are sold not made.

A confident sweep tag with a up motion of the glove and ball showing it to the umpire, almost always gets you the out call.

It is like a play, all the drama is there, dirt flying, and the umpire can't see it, or is out of position anyway.

He is not going to ruin the drama of the play and extend his arms and walk away. He gets to point and yell "outttttttt". And finish the play like it was written.

I know my son has more sold outs than real tag outs on the bang bang plays, be it a steal or throw from the outfield.

I have always taught him to sell the play even if he knew he was high on the leg or whatever.


I did it again, anyway damn it......

What do you think? Can an "average" major league player see the bat hit the ball?

This might be a good paper for your son if he gets to pick a subject to write on.

OH by the way. you were adding resistors in series-parallel which is the whole circuit and looking for I assume total wattage dropped over the entire circuit.

You always make your parallel calculations to get a value and then add the rest.

Now, ohm's law is one thing, but when you start getting into AC it starts changing.

That is what Edison and Tesla went at it over, luckily Westinghouse bought off on Tesla, or we might just now be seeing the first VCR.

The next step will be a lot of fun if your son goes further into electrical/electronics and physics.

Digital logic. It is a lot like finding the ohmic value of resistors. But you start getting into boolean algebra which really is fun. In your spare time check this out:

http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/mastascu/eLessonsHTML/Logic/Logic1.html#Gates

That was a ton of fun for me and if you like the resistive circuits you will really like this.

So if you have ever heard of a study on a batter actually being able to see a major league fast ball hit the bat, I would love an opinion on that and also your opinion on my batting instructions.

I take criticism well so fire away.....

Thanks for everything!

Will

ANSWER: Hi Will,

ahhh..boolean logic and predicate calculus...what nightmares are made of... I still remember those 8:30am classes at university...hard to wrap your mind around all those logic structures and theorems so early in the morn.

nice website suggestion.  I had my 17 year old look at this site and we worked the examples together.  It's good to have 'live' examples to use when learning the fundamentals of anything.  His physics course is just starting to explore topics in electricity and your timing couldn't be better.  Thanks again.

As for baseball and physics, did you read Robert K. Adair's book "The physics of baseball"?  There is also a  website : http://webusers.npl.uiuc.edu/~a-nathan/pob/ (not related directly to the book) that has a variety of links to articles, papers, videos and presentations on the physics of baseball.

Your question regarding visually seeing the bat hit the bat intrigues me.  It is visual or visualization?  hmmm...

I was once (many years ago) a DH in baseball.  I would swear that I could see the compression of ball against the bat.  For slower pitches, I had no trouble watching the hit, but for cutters and some nasty fastballs, I wonder...

There is no sweeter sound and sight of a fastball pitched to my favourite spot (I'm not telling where!!!).  I just knew it was going 'downtown'.  Then there was also the feeling of a solid hit that I knew was all power.  That memory still lingers even today, 25 years later.  Ahhh...youth.

To address your question, the balls pitched when I was playing were no where near the speeds of the majors.  I wish I had the chance to bat against such pitchers but I did not.  And batting cages don't count.  They are too predictable.  I always like those pitchers who were cocky enough to try a straight-up fastball against a DH.  What moxy.  Don't you think?


I often had players perform the batting during defensive practices and my assistant coaches and I would be teaching along side the players.  I must admit that I never used the colour technique and calling out the colour with the  contact of ball and bat.  I was more focused on the mechanics of grip, hips, leg and foot placement and motion.  

I rely upon the use of pitching machines during batting practice.  I always want the players to seek out and learn their individual batting window and trust their instincts in the swing (combined with correct mechanics).  

My practice times were tight so I often had to combine exercises in order to maximize our time together.  Nothing gets me more stressed than to talk about hockey parents and baseball.  Here in Canada, often times the players have hockey practice afterwards.  As all hockey parents will tell you, 'baseball comes 2nd to hockey' since baseball is 'only just for fun'.   Huh?  I thought hockey was suppose to be fun too?  

Anyway...

Your comments have made me think more about this....I did some searching and found an interesting website:

http://www.exerciseyoureyes.com/index.php

It sort of covers what you are doing with bat and ball contact and why color can make a difference in training the eyes.  It's a fascinating subject that I just spent 2 hours reading about.  Isn't the internet wonderful?  So many resources at your fingertips.  After reading your technique and this article, I can see where you are going with this batting practice technique and I believe it would work.  

I have never heard of any study like the one you mentioned for major league batters but I would enjoy reading more about it.  But I believe that it's more visual than visualization at that level.  Their eyes are better trained and their co-ordination is at it's peak performance.

A most interesting chat.  Thanks Will.

Regards,

JohnMc





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QUESTION: Indeed, so a former DH, whoooooooooo the pressure. Tough thing to be called into the flow of a game and be expected to produce. I can't imagine anything more difficult.

I too have a pitching machine of my own for reps and the ability to watch form. However when I watch major league batters, they sometimes stand on their heads and hit 333.

I am still a firm believer that if you cannot or do not see the ball, the muscle memory is only partially helpful.

I had no idea my color scheme was anything but my own way of encouragement.

Now I will be spending hours on the sites you provided.

Indeed an interesting chat and I am very fortunate to have the privilege.

Thank you so much and, I will approach our "Coaches" with our little chat and see if a light bulb comes on.

I hate negative reinforcement, and I was impressed with your after game debrief description, you talked about what went right.

That was a comment that was not thought out, it is what you do and should be done.

I have made every coach aware that if my son is punished for losing a game, if he had sat the bench even, it would be the last time.

It was a big deal for a while to punish 7,8,10.13 whatever age kids by making them run till they dropped for losing.

I have pretty much put a stop to it, I think the grapevine and promises of prosecution got around pretty quickly,

Whatever did happen to fun? We are playing these tournaments to qualify for some "Nationals" somewhere.

Who cares? It means nothing. the cost is ridiculous, but so many Coaches just want that one Crown Jewel I guess.

I have so many trophies and awards they are in parts stored in huge boxes,, why.......memories.

The important ones to me are the pictures with the autographs. I display those.

I found that learning to play correctly and with sportsmanship took care of the winning,

It is a crazy world and I am old enough to have seen the changes and I don't like them.

So I am not a constant pain, but no kid in my line of sight ever gets punished for PLAYING!

What happened to fun is simple EGO> Unchecked, EGO. All a coach has to do is sign up and he is now SOMEBODY.

I laugh at these out of shape dummies, running around in full baseball garb with 13 ice cream faces in tow.

Great talking with you and will visit the sites and spend too much time there.

Keep up the good work and glad you remembered the fun with even simple digital, just amazing how simple something so complex can be.

It is good to know there are some with common sense out there, and willing to help. My hat is off.

Much appreciated!

Will Babbitt

Answer
Hi Will,

anytime.  I like getting questions that make me do some research, especially on topics that tweak my interest.

I share the same sentiments as you.  When I was in charge of coaches in our local association, I struggled with some coaches on how to lead by example.  Most were only interested in their own kids and winning.  A few had the right heart but were swamped with aggressive parents and fellow coaches who are only interested in winning.  There is so much short-sighted thinking in youth sports.  

It saddens me sometimes to read questions from caring parents who witness coaching abuses.  A recent question from some caring parents was a reminder that some coaches just won't grow up.  Even with certification, some of my coaches do not belong on the field or in a ball park.

Some of these guys, and it's mostly men, are just living out a dream that they did not have. They know how to fill out the test sheets, answer the interview questions correctly but when back on their own field, their true nature crawls out from under the rock.  

I once forced a coach out of the association for pushing/hitting an umpire (17 years old) during a home game.  I should have called the police but I chose to kick him out.  I swore he'd never coach again.  The next year, he had parents petition the city council to reinstate him.  I was disgusted by the politics and what some parents are willing to do - just to win.  

I will admit that I had to discipline a few players on my teams but for good reason.  I do not like violent outbursts during games and have zero tolerance for any form of bullying.  I once took on some boys from a local group home.  They were rough and street-smart kids, unlike the other kids on our team.  One of my assistant coaches would have nothing to do with them.  I had to lay down the rules clearly.  "This is your team - you help each other or you leave". No second chances.  It worked.  We had a good season that year but it cost me plenty.  I lost a good assistant coach.  I think he had issues about those boys from the group home.

As for coaching, we both are on the same track.  However, I've seen some coaches that don't fit the typical mould you describe.  Case in point, my son's last coach...

My son was with a national level coach this past season.  This coach seemed to have his act together.  He had an impressive history and is well-respected in the sport. He was kind and considerate all during the off-season.  As the season progressed, his nature changed.  Towards the end of the season, and especially toward the national finals, I began to see a darker part of him that I did not like.  

Yes, he has a vast experience BUT his abusive nature could not remain hidden forever.  Eventually, I started picking up on expressions and disciplinary actions that were inappropriate.  The more I heard and saw, the less I liked.  

My son learned a great deal about his sport with this coach BUT I could no longer tolerate the coach's abusive nature and sarcastic attitude towards others.  If you've heard about the movie "BORAT...", this coach actually saw the movie and thought it was funny.  I think it reflected his own sardonic opinion of others.  This above all else was not what I want my 17 year old son to learn an accept.

What finally caused me to sever the connection was when my son was disciplined even after having the best race of the year.  Matt finished 3rd in his age category and 14th out of 220 racers -  only to be verbally abused by his coach at the end of the race.  What's wrong with this picture?

I will not compromise my principles so my son can have a national-level coach.  I've seen so many other parents 'prostitute' themselves just to be on a winning team or to have a winning coach.  

Even after all these years, I still can be fooled by even the best of coaches.

You are absolutely right about ego and when it gets to the national level....some ego's can really inflate!  Bad coaching exists even at the national levels.  The big question is what can we do about it.

Live, learn and lead by example.  Hopefully, it will catch on.

Again, chat anytime Will.

Regards,

JohnMc
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