Scouting the Catcher & Outfielders for Baseball Base Coaching

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Adrian Arceo. Now when it comes to being a base coach, you have to really consider everything that's going on in the game. But, as a first base coach you really want to focus on the catcher and the outfielders. The reason being is that as a first base coach you're going to relay the message to your runner whether or not to steal and what kind of steal to attempt. Now, after the pitcher gets rid of the ball, the only guy whose really going to throw him out, is going to be the catcher. Now, getting into the catcher specifically, you also have to look at his blocking ability. For example: if you have a catcher who is not really good at blocking balls, you may want to tell your runner to be ready to take the next base, in case the ball gets away from him. Also, if you see a catcher with slow feet, you can actually send guys that don't have a lot of speed and try to have them steal a base. But, if you have a catcher who has a really good arm, you have to make sure that the runner here has the speed and attitude to want to steal second base. Most guys on your team are not going to have that type of speed so, you have to be really careful who you're going to send out. The next thing is the outfielders. Now, you don't want to take the outfielders as a whole, you've got to look at each individual player. For example: the right fielder tends to be more of the base coaches responsibility to let his guy know whether to take the base or not. The reason being that, is as the play is going on your runners back is actually going to be to the right fielder, so you have to let them know how fast he is and how good his arm is. Most of the time the runner is going to make his own decision, because he has a really good view of the play. Remember as he's going from first to second, he actually can see the center fielder and left fielder better than the first base coach. So, most often than not, you're just going to let him go ahead and make his own decision. And remember just because you're a first base coach, it doesn't mean you have to make the choice for your runner every time."