Had a guy tell me the other day that a coach chewed him out because he was still stealing and sacrificing runners up 6 runs in the 5th inning.

Wouldn't you want to run rule a team if given the opportunity? Is 6 runs enough? I would think 10-12 runs you would stop stealing and not try to embarrass another team. What do you think?

10+ is sufficient enough of a pad against most teams to stop stealing. 6 is still in striking distance with 2 innings to go that a couple of errors, walks and solid hits could make up. 10+ is much less likely.

If I'm up 6, then I'm still running and sacrificing. 6 runs is not a safe lead, especially with 2+ innings left.

I've seen a lot of Baseball games in my day, from youth to pros and no lead is safe. I understand the question but to me, it's not the amount of runs you are ahead by but the inning of the game.

 

If in high school you mercy someone, it requires 5 innings. A team can end things quickly, if they are close to a 10 run lead. Stealing when up big and with already a mercy score, can be bush....stealing to get a runner in scoring position, to end the game in the 5th can be understandable, not always liked but understandable.

 

They way too not embarrass another team, is to advance 1 base at time, regardless of where the ball is hit. Some won't even advance on passed balls, which that is up to the coach.

 

No true easy way, to beat someone by 10+ and not have someone feel like you may have been running up the score.

Less than 10 runs with 2 plus innings isn't enough in high school baseball. Not to mention that a lot of coaching and situation things can be done while playing in real time.

Sounds like that coach needs to retire or grow up!

This all starts in the early years with Knothole/AABC whatever they call it. I have seen where coaches just keep stealing kids like they are running in circles. The minute a kid gets on base in D knothole you can bet he will be on 3rd base in 2 pitches. It is ridiculous and it is the main reason I was happy when my boy got sick of baseball after 2 years and said he wanted to play basketball in the Spring. How much fun is it to watch little kids steal when the catcher can barely get the ball down to 2nd base..... talk about your pet peeves.

 

But to answer your question..... I think if it is kids that are 13 and older....if you are up 10 runs I think its time to stop stealing.

Perfect example- Boone Co scored 14 runs in the top of the first inning against Scott the other day. Do they stop stealing in the 2nd inning knowing how good of a hitting club Scott is? I know there is a fine line and every coach has been on the short end of it at one time or another. Boone ended up winning 21-10 but Scott scored 6-8 runs in the 4th inning or so. Baseball is a weird game and weird things happen. Thanks for your posts?

This all starts in the early years with Knothole/AABC whatever they call it. I have seen where coaches just keep stealing kids like they are running in circles. The minute a kid gets on base in D knothole you can bet he will be on 3rd base in 2 pitches. It is ridiculous and it is the main reason I was happy when my boy got sick of baseball after 2 years and said he wanted to play basketball in the Spring. How much fun is it to watch little kids steal when the catcher can barely get the ball down to 2nd base..... talk about your pet peeves.

 

But to answer your question..... I think if it is kids that are 13 and older....if you are up 10 runs I think its time to stop stealing.

 

Having kids running the bases at a young age is bad? At what age do you expect them to start? Kids running bases during the game and having fun is a pet peeve? Perhaps you should have stuck around and see that within just a few years they "develop" and stealing is not as easy. You can say the same thing about any sport with kids at the age of 6 and 7.

I, like many other posters in this thread, beleive you should keep playing the game as if it were real circumstances until the end. I have seen to many teams get on a 2 out rally and score 10+ runs on a team before they knew what hit'em. There isn't a margin safe enough in the game of baseball.

 

You want to see one of your kids get hurt?.........tell them, "Back off, we're beating this team to badly." When the other team is still playing to win and you're not bad things happen. Such as:

1. Kids develop or fall back into bad habits. Habits, as a coach, you've been trying to break since the beginning of practice/tryouts in February.

2. Injuries.

3. Substitutions that you wouldn't usually make that can't be corrected fast enough when the other team gets on their hitting streak.

And the list goes on.

 

As a coach who has been on the down side of this question, nothing would make me madder than seeing a coach back off. I firmly beleive a squad will learn more from a loss than they ever learn from a win.

 

Is it harsh? Maybe; but it's the reality of the game.

If you can't run-hit-field with the BIG DOGS; Stay on the porch.