What are your unwritten rules?

[RubberBiscuit]

What are all your thoughts on fake-bunt-then-swing...?

This item was always the second most controversial after Illegal Pitch in my coaching days.

 

[quincy]

What are all your thoughts on fake-bunt-then-swing...?

Hate it, I actually sent an Email to our Web Site asking if it was legal.

I am not sure what age they should allow it but I do not think 10U or less should allow it.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Hate it, I actually sent an Email to our Web Site asking if it was legal.

I am not sure what age they should allow it but I do think 10U or less should allow it.

Ya my co-coach in the youngest days used to call this a lot along with waving the bat around at fake-bunt at 3 balls and no or one strike.

I always felt uncomfortable about this but yet never argued with him to stop..... Forgive me father, I have sinned.....

 

[Jquick823]

Why not wave the bat around on 3-0 counts? Why not fake bunt swing? On 3-0 i'm trying to distract the pitcher and catcher and rattle them all i can. Fake bunt swing can lead to injuries but then you might as well get rid of slapping for lefties also. Those aren't unwritten rules. I guess we all have pet peeves that we don't like about the game, i know if my DD is on 3rd and a righty fake bunts and swings away i'm nervous she's about to take a line drive in the head. So for the side of injury prevention i understand it but slapping for lefties i'm sure could cause the same thing as they take a pitch while running forward and then as the defense creeps they rip a liner to first.

Unwritten rules for me personally when and if i become a HC, would be things like take first pitch when up big, no bunting when up big, no stealing when up big, no more than 2 bases when up big, pitch more towards the outside of the plate to avoid acidental HBP, remove my ace (depending on the game), insert all subs that i can, no stealing of home on past balls things that would prevent the Stever Spurrier run it up mentality. All these of course are subjective to individual situations in the game. But no reason to really run it up on a team if you don't need to.

But you can bet i'll be bunting against a girl throwing a No Hitter if that 1 baserunner gives me a chance to make it a game.

 

[JAD]

What are all your thoughts on fake-bunt-then-swing...?

I will never forget the first time a batter we were playing against in 10U squared to bunt, then pulled back and swang away.....as soon as she squared, our 3B crashed, and when the batter pulled back I can still hear myself screaming "SSSSS-TTTT-OOOO-PPPP" from the dugout. It was like one of those slow motion plays that keeps replaying in your head. Fortunatly the batter missed the ball, but it was a lesson learned. I have only seen it 3-4 times in the 5 years my DD has played TB. I understand it is a strategy, but it is not worth injurying a player for a base hit. At 14U my 3B is a little more "softball savvy", but at 10U it was a seriously dangerous situation.....and another good reason your 3B should wear a mask!!!!!

 

[coach james]

Fake bunt/swing..
I'm surprised to see how many people oppose this...
I coach it pretty regularly. Drag bunts, then sac bunt, show sac bunt and pull back to swing, show sac then pull back and then actually drag bunt, show sac bunt, and then push the ball past the charging corners...This is all part of our short game. We will take our opponents mentally out of the game by worrying about whether its safe to crash or not. If they stay back, we drag. If they crash we push bunt the ball past them or swing away. When they see that bat come back to swing, they freak out and start to back peddle, all focus has shifted into their safety and not winning the play.

 

[guero_gordo]

Never get involved in a land war in Asia.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Why not wave the bat around on 3-0 counts? Why not fake bunt swing? On 3-0 i'm trying to distract the pitcher and catcher and rattle them all i can. Fake bunt swing can lead to injuries but then you might as well get rid of slapping for lefties also. Those aren't unwritten rules. I guess we all have pet peeves that we don't like about the game, i know if my DD is on 3rd and a righty fake bunts and swings away i'm nervous she's about to take a line drive in the head. So for the side of injury prevention i understand it but slapping for lefties i'm sure could cause the same thing as they take a pitch while running forward and then as the defense creeps they rip a liner to first.

Unwritten rules for me personally when and if i become a HC, would be things like take first pitch when up big, no bunting when up big, no stealing when up big, no more than 2 bases when up big, pitch more towards the outside of the plate to avoid acidental HBP, remove my ace (depending on the game), insert all subs that i can, no stealing of home on past balls things that would prevent the Stever Spurrier run it up mentality. All these of course are subjective to individual situations in the game. But no reason to really run it up on a team if you don't need to.

But you can bet i'll be bunting against a girl throwing a No Hitter if that 1 baserunner gives me a chance to make it a game.

There are 2 good reasons why you shouldn't coach your hitters to wave the bat around on 3-0 counts to distract and rattle the pitcher and catcher: a) its a bush league move; and, b) at the next level, or the next level after that, hitters will get an extremely up close and personal view of ball 4, that is if it doesn't hit them. If you can't coach your players how to hit, at least teach them to act like they can instead of begging for a walk.

 

[DOG310]

There are 2 good reasons why you shouldn't coach your hitters to wave the bat around on 3-0 counts to distract and rattle the pitcher and catcher: a) its a bush league move; and, b) at the next level, or the next level after that, hitters will get an extremely up close and personal view of ball 4, that is if it doesn't hit them. If you can't coach your players how to hit, at least teach them to act like they can instead of begging for a walk.

We have a kid on our team that does this. She's an OK batter and has a good attitude, but someone taught her to do this and I cringe every time. My DD just looks at me and does the now familiar eye roll.

 

[guero_gordo]

There is no such thing as a BA on weekends.
I'd prefer we never spoke of it at all, but the coach set some arbitrary target for the kids as a goal, so it's always on their minds.