Pickoff - Holding Baserunners

Holding Baserunners

Along with having a good, quick pickoff move, a number of other techniques can be used to help cut down on base-runners getting good jumps at stealing bases. First off, changing look patterns keeps the runner off balance and keeps him from timing out the pitcher and guessing when he can take off. An experienced pitcher learns how to mix up his looks and never allow himself to get into a predictable pattern. The most common occurrence of a pitcher falling into a pattern occurs with a runner on second base. It is very easy for a pitcher to repeatedly look just once at the runner and then start the pitching motion as the head turns to pick up home plate again. This makes base-runners have a very easy time at getting a good start at stealing third base. A second method to cut down on giving up stolen bases is to have a quick delivery to the plate. This can be done with a slide step quite easily, however this is not necessary. A slide step tends to make the pitcher not get as much momentum going to the plate, therefore causing the pitch to lose velocity. To counteract this, a pitcher can do a quick leg kick to get momentum going while not taking a long time. The technique to do this is to lift the leg with the knee going up in an inward motion towards the push leg. The entire pitching motion from the first movement until the ball hits the catcher's glove should take around 1.3–1.5 seconds. By keeping the time under 1.3 seconds, very few runners should be able to steal on even an average-armed catcher. The most important rule to remember while pitching with base-runners on is to stay relaxed. Being tense makes a pitcher much more prone to committing a balk.