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Once we have made sure that our runner knows how to take an appropriate lead, let us work him a little bit. You can do this with an entire team, you can do it with a single individual or you can do it on your own. We need to make sure we know what to do when the ball is been contacted. We are going to pretend for just a moment that every situation we are in has less than two outs.
With two outs, we know what we do. We are going to run all the time. But with less than two outs, there is going to be some variations as to what is going on. Okay Ryan, hop on the bag. This is going to be a ground ball to the middle infield and we are going to score on it. Okay, ground ball to the middle infield and we are going to score with less than two outs. Okay Ryan, take your lead, clap of the hands, we are going to get a walking lead, he will walk, ground ball, boom! And he is on to a break. We do not hesitate. We get that good walking lead. The weight is planted on the right foot leaning forward. The ball is hit and he is off to the race. If we hesitate, some guys going it thrown up. So we have got a ground ball up the middle but we can go on.
All right, let us take a look at another one. We got a line drive situation. So the ball is contacted on the line and we tell the runners at third. They have to freeze right where they at, they cannot move right or left until they read the ball and see where it is at. Okay, let us do it Ryan. Clap of the hands, walking lead, line drive, base hit. Okay, I called a base hit, once it is through, he can go ahead and break. Okay Ryan, come on back. Be nice if we got all base hits on this, they do work that way though. Occasionally, line drive gets hit with somebody and it is caught, so we cover that one too. Ready, clap of the hands, takes his primary lead, walking lead, line drive, caught! Ball is caught, back he goes. So we are going to retrieve back to the base. So we get a line drive where to base it, line drive where to be caught. Again, the important point is that you freeze and you do not move right or left.
Third and final situation that we can cover is the fly ball in the outfield with less than two outs. I have nothing to do with when he tags up. This is his responsibility totally. So we got no outs, fly ball hit into the outfield. Ryan goes ahead and takes a lead. Let us say for instance, the ball has been hit to center. He is going to come back to tag up. He is going to watch the centerfield and when it is caught, he will break. If the ball has been hit down the left field line in foul territory, he simply returns his body and watch this way. He is not going wait for me to tell him when to go.
He is going to go on his own. We want to make sure we do not leave too early, where they can appeal to play or in some cases now, it is automatic, they just call you out if you leave early. Okay Ryan, we are going to get a lead and I will call it for you. Walking lead, fly ball left, he will go back and tag, watch, it is caught, boom! And off he goes. Notice how he comes to the bag, sets himself up, watches the ball and then he breaks. Okay, come on back. Okay, clap of the hands, we take our lead. Gets his walking lead, foul ball third baseline, comes back in tags, and turns his body, watches, caught, boom! And off we go. Okay Ryan, come on back. Just a little bit of effort, working on this each day and this can be one of your conditioning drills if you like. But just for little bit effort going through this situations will certainly help you in the game and avoid those situations where on a fly ball somebody does and tag. Teach the players what you like to do personally, as a player, as a coach and then you can go through your format, but work out on it on a daily basis.
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