High-scoring baseball

240 Pages·2013·12.72 MB·English

by  Todd Guilliams

High-Scoring
Baseball
Todd Guilliams
Human Kinetics
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Guilliams, Todd, 1966-
High-scoring baseball / Todd Guilliams.
p. cm.
1. Baseball--Scorekeeping. I. Title.
GV879.G88 2012
796.357--dc23
2012020608
ISBN-10: 1-4504-1619-5 (print)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4504-1619-1 (print)
Copyright © 2013 by Todd Guilliams
All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any
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Notice: Permission to reproduce the following material is granted to instructors and agencies who
have purchased High-Scoring Baseball: pp. 192, 193, 195, 197, 198, 202, 206, 210, 216, and 218.
The reproduction of other parts of this book is expressly forbidden by the above copyright notice.
Persons or agencies who have not purchased High-Scoring Baseball may not reproduce any material.
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This book is dedicated to my family: my mom, Shirley; and dad, Jim; and my
brother, Greg; my wife, Julie; and children Casey, Grace, and Wyatt; and my
in-laws, Dick and DeDe. What a blessing to have been coached by my father,
to have learned how to balance toughness with love from my mother, to have
coached alongside my older brother and childhood hero for 22 years, to be
married to my high school sweetheart for 20 years, to have had my in-laws’
help in reuniting us, and to be the father of three children, who all know
Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Contents
•
Drill Finder vii Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Part I Offensive Baseball 1
1
Facts About Run Production 3
2
Assessing Your Personnel 15
3
Setting Realistic Goals 27
Part II run Production 41
4
Defining a Quality At-Bat 43
5
The Ultimate Hitter 53
6
Creating Pressure With the Bunt 83
7
Aggressive Baserunning 103
iv v
8
Intelligent Base Stealing 125
9
Get ‘Em On, Get ‘Em Over 145
10
RBI Situations 161
Part III Competitive Preparation 173
11
Organizing Effective Practices 175
12
Game Day 199
13
Team Evaluation 213
•
References 225 About the Author 227
iv v
vii
Drill Finder
SIx ElEmEnTS OF OFFEnSE
Bat Base Base Strike zone
Drills Bunting control running stealing Hitting awareness Page
Tee Work ✓ 74
Side Flips ✓ 76
Underhand Front Toss ✓ ✓ ✓ 78
Batting Practice ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 80
Statue Bunting ✓ 97
One-Knee Bunting ✓ 98
Four-Base Bunting ✓ 98
Paddle Glove ✓ 100
Small Game ✓ ✓ 100
Baserunning During
✓ 120
Batting Practice
Intrasquad Games ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 121
Reads and Reactions at
✓ 121
First Base
Dive Backs on the
✓ 138
Grass
Four man (Stealing
✓ 138
Second)
Two man (Stealing
✓ 139
Second)
Four man (Stealing
✓ 142
Third)
Four man (Stealing
✓ 143
Home)
Get ‘Em Over,
✓ ✓ 159
Get ‘Em In
vii
ix
Preface
A productive offense in baseball must have a well-defined game plan. The
high-scoring offense has four game-specific goals. If the offense executes just
one of those goals and the defense executes one of their four goals, the team
will win 90% of its games.
Scoring a lot of runs sounds good, but how can teams, even those with
limited natural talent, make it happen? What are the building blocks of a
high-powered offense? Every offense wants to have a big inning, but you
need to know the components that lead up to it. More important, you need
to know how to train both individuals and the team to accomplish that goal.
This book is a how-to manual on run production, covering everything from
how to score runs to answering the who, what, why, and how of run scoring.
It is the culmination of research, observation, and input from outstanding
coaches.
A high-scoring offense seeks to score as many runs as possible before the
defense can record three outs. Scoring seven or more runs is the primary
objective, but a high-scoring offense needs a backup plan that allows the
team to score runs when they are not hitting.
The game of baseball, especially the offensive side, is full of failure. Coaches
and players need to allow for failure. Productive teams understand not only
the right way to execute a skill but also the correct way to fail. High-Scoring
Baseball presents the three possible outcomes in almost every conceivable
situation—the proper execution of the skill, the correct way to fail, and the
wrong way to fail.
High-Scoring Baseball details the eight ways to create offensive pressure that
give every club the chance to be a high-scoring baseball team. It’s a proven
system that helps players compete against the game and not their opponent. A
player’s offensive productivity should be measured not by his batting average
but by his ability to obtain one of the eight quality at-bats.
A majority of coaches would agree that the most difficult job is in selling
a philosophy to players. One key to selling your offensive philosophy is for
it to be rock solid, proven, and backed up by facts. With 18 years of data to
support its conclusions, High-Scoring Baseball identifies offensive goals for
run production, presents ways to identify team strengths, shares facts about
run production from college and Major League Baseball, and covers the skills
needed to produce runs, such as bunting, baserunning, base stealing, bat
control, strike-zone discipline, and hitting. These skills provide an array of
weapons that are central to the goal of run scoring.
ix
x • Preface
The book also covers the four offensive plays in baseball—getting on base,
moving runners, scoring runs, and sustaining a rally. Practice plans show
how to train individual players and teams efficiently. The book concludes
with ways to evaluate players using grade cards to help teams stay on track
and make adjustments throughout the course of a long season so that the
offense can continue to operate at a high level of efficiency.
xi