Most youth pitchers are not very good at picking off runners and so when I see one who does
it well it tends to stands out.
We’ll start with the entire sequence of this pitcher/runner dual uninterrupted first
then we will explain why this is a great move as well as how a right handed pitcher can
use this even more successfully with runners at 3rd.
Great pick off moves are pretty basic.
We can see them in Major League baseball all the time.
The reason I liked this move is the combination that caught the runner and it works well on
the youth level.
We’ll explain how a right handed pitcher can use it to even greater success next, but
first, this is how it works for the left hander.
Being a lefty the pitcher has an advantage at 1st base in that he can lift his front
foot similar to a pitch and still step and throw to first.
This makes the runners job much more difficult in judging when it is safe to steal or get
a secondary lead.
The runner needs to make sure that front foot actually moves toward home before stealing.
Many times youth pitchers will step off the back of the rubber before throwing to a base.
Some players and coaches actually think you have to step off to throw, so seeing a pitcher
step off before throwing is not abnormal.
In this situation the pitcher initially sets up the runner by first stepping off the back
of the rubber and throwing.
And doing that without stepping with that front foot is a pretty good move in and of
itself.
I’ve seen stronger pitchers actually pull off that move by itself.
But that’s not the real move here.
It’s a set-up move.
What the set-up move does, is cause the runner to focus on the back foot and once he sees
the front foot come up, thinking it’s safe, the runner ends up getting caught.
All of this despite the coaches warning the runner, “Just because he stepped off the
first time doesn’t mean he will every time.”
In deference to the runner, once he knew he was caught, he didn’t hesitate and got lucky
here.
That, however, doesn’t detract from the fact that the pitcher showed a great set up
move and executed the pick very well.
If you are a right handed pitcher, do not think this can’t apply to you too.
You actually probably have an even better chance as most kids at 3rd base are not timing
a steal attempt anyway, and they can get lazy particularly if they are stuck at third for
any number of pitches.
At 3rd base I prefer the longer set-up which works like this.
The pitcher steps off and throws to 3rd like our lefty did.
Then he pitches to the batter with a leg lift similar to what he will use on a real pick
move.
Then go back to another set-up pick stepping off the back and throwing to 3rd.
After showing your set-up pick move 2 or 3 times, you then lift your leg just like you
do when pitching only step toward 3rd and catch the runner.
It’s particularly nice at 3rd base because as you set up that runner, you can see if
he’s taking his secondary lead too early.
Give this a try and let us know in the comments if this worked for you.