Preventing False Steps When Base-Running
Base-running is the special teams of baseball. It may not win you a game, but if done poorly, will surely lose you a game. In prior posts I have given drills to help teams get better at their base-running skills. Today, I will go into the little details of what can make or break a stolen base.
For many baseball players, speed is not a God-given talent. Instead, they must practice, practice, practice to get faster and better at base-running. In addition to practicing base-running, baseball players should do speed and agility training to become quicker. Odds are that the better of an athlete you are, the easier the game will be for you, provided that you have learned baseball instincts.
While in high school, I was fortunate enough to play for one of the top baseball coaches in my state. Every day after stretching and our dynamic warm-up he would take the time to go over base-running mechanics to us. We always wanted to get the extra base. This would turn a single into a double within the next pitch or two. But to get the extra base more often than not, we had to learn the correct mechanics to get from point A to point B. To do this, we had to prevent the false step.
To prevent a false step from happening, you must stay low and athletic. For example, think of guarding an opponent in basketball. You are wide, athletic, and can move in any direction effectively. The same applies to base-running and fielding in baseball. Another example when fielding is to stay low, shuffle, and then throw to either the cut-off man or the base. Many errors happen because the position player or pitcher stands straight up and becomes unathletic. The same applies true to base-running. When base-running you do not want to have any wasted movement. Wasted movement can be the determining factor of being safe or out. Let's look no further than the All-Time Base Stealer Rickey Henderson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=bwQzsMXQ1HE.
If you take the time to slow down the frame Rickey is in, you will see that he had no wasted movement. Wasted movement in this case is a false step. A false step is when in the athletic running position, if the base-runner moves straight up or back. If this happens, the chances of stealing the next base goes down. A visual for younger athletes and amateur athletes is to think that you are holding a bag of money to the right of them. While in the base-running stance the athlete must grab the bag and run. This saying tells the athlete to not waste any movement. For success, the athlete must stay low and explode to their right. They cannot stand straight up, and then go to be quick.
Rickey Henderson has left clues on how to be a successful base-runner mechanically. To be a quality base-runner, the athlete must not lose any time to the throw of the catcher. More often than not, the ball will beat the runner to the base. It is through good recognition of the pitch, and non-wasted movement that the base-stealer has a chance to take the next base.
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