As minor league baseball coaches, we sometimes try to teach too much in too short a period of time. I have coached three youth sports and have found youth baseball to be the most coached and least taught sport I have ever seen at the youth level. A good example is teaching backup situations. It is especially beneficial to teach backup situations to your outfielders. Remember that if you try to tell a player what to do during a game instead of practicing the situation, the success rate will decrease. I’m going to go over three different backup situations that I always practice that have come up during the game.

The first is the right fielder going back on a bunt. Yes a touch. With no one on base and the batter bunts, the play goes to first base. Coach your outfielders in practice (have everyone take turns) that with no one on base and when the batter squares up to bunt, the right fielder will run to the first base foul line and step in to back up the throw. who fields the bunt. It’s important that he do his best to line up with the fielder and first baseman. The goal here is to keep the baserunner on first base in the event of a knockdown.

The second backup situation is with the center fielder and a guy on first trying to steal second. When the pitch is thrown and the runner initially takes off (as the pitch crosses home plate), the center fielder will run to second base to back up the catcher’s pitch. It’s actually a second backup because the second baseman or shortstop (the one not fielding the throw) is the first backup. A very important key here and a mistake that often occurs is that the center fielder goes in too far and on a really wild shot, the ball goes too far. I teach my center fielder to be 10 to 15 feet behind first back, and if the ball goes past first back, the center fielder’s goal is to keep the ball in front of him with his body and not necessarily catch it.

The third situation is actually base coverage by the outfielder. If there is a man on first and the batter bunts to third, many times a smart and aggressive coach will have the baserunner continue to third knowing that the third baseman might be out of position to return to the base after fielding the ball. . So, with a man on first and the batter stances to bunt, the third baseman will move to cover the bunt, and the left fielder will run to cover third. We practice this with all players and make sure the left fielder runs to the right when the batter squares up to bunt, not on the bunt itself.

There are numerous backup situations involving both infielders and outfielders. These are just three of them, involving outfielders more in the game. But like everything else, you can tell players what to do during a game, but if you practice the situation, your chances of success increase!