Watching Fielders as a Third Base Coach

Video Transcript

"Hello, my name is Adrian Arceo and now we're going to get into some third base coaching. Now, again as a third base coach, or as a base coach in general, you have to pay attention to everything that's going on. But, as a third base specifically, your responsibility to the runner is actually a lot more important than the first base coaches. The reason being is that as the runner's coming from first or from second to third base, his back is to the entire field so he can't see anything that's going to be going on. Now, the reason you focus on the infield and the outfield in particular, is because as a third base coach you're going to be either waving in or holding up the runner at third base. Now, starting in right field, say the right fielder has to make a throw to third base, now he can do one of two things, he can either choose to throw all the way to third base in one throw or he can hit a cut off man which at this point the second baseman that breaks away from his position, to get the relay throw to third base. If the center fielder has the make the play, he also has the choice of hitting his cut off man, which at this point is going to be the shortstop, or he can just throw it over his shortstop and aim directly at the third baseman. Again this changes depending on how far the throw is and how good the outfielder's arm is. However, the play changes a little bit when it's the left fielder because he actually has the shortest throw to make to get it to third base. But, again if his arm isn't strong enough or if the throw is too long, he's going to have to hit his cutoff man, which is also going to be the shortstop, to make the relay throw to third base. So, let's say the batter gets a good hit and it manages to split the outfield, now what that's going to do is it's going to cause the infielders to come out and become cutoff men. So, if you decide to send your runner to home, the outfielder is going to throw it to a cutoff man which is going to be an infielder and then the infielder is going to throw to home. So, again you want to focus on their arms and their speed. The other thing you want to consider is how far along your runner actually is on the baseline. If the outfielder has to make a really long throw and your runner has a really big advantage; say he's more than half way to third base, you might want to just go ahead and send him home, now that he has the momentum going. But, if the play is very shallow and he's not far enough along the base, you may just want to hold him at third base. So, as a third base coach you really want to consider the relay combinations to third or home and how far along your runner is down the baseline."