How to steal a base in Little League - the delayed steal

Описание: It’s one of the most exciting plays in baseball! The stolen base. Somehow you manage to make it to first base and the next thing the opposing team knows….you are in scoring position.

Another exciting play in baseball is catching the guy stealing a base! Catchers love nailing a runner trying to steal about as much as they love making the diving catch on the foul ball.

In this video I will show you how to steal a base in little league with very little chance of getting caught!

In Little League baseball the base runners are not permitted to have a lead off when on base. This helps youth pitchers focus on the pitch without the worry of baserunners stealing. Since pitching is such an important yet difficult part of the game of baseball, it’s a good idea to give young pitchers all the help they need to throw strikes.

But this does not mean baserunners can not steal. Once the ball reaches home plate, the runner is free to advance at risk of being put out. Most of the time when we think of stealing in little league, it occurs as soon as the ball passes home plate and the runner attempts to beat out the throw of the catcher. Sometimes they do, but a good catcher will throw out a lot of these steal attempts.

Of course, there is always the wild pitch and passed ball, but that steal doesn’t require skill. Even the slowest runner on the team can beat out that throw to second.

The question that most players and even coaches don’t ask is, when may I no longer steal? In other words, at what point am I forced to stay on the base until the ball reaches home plate again? We know when you can START to run, but when is that opportunity lost?

The rule that governs this is 7.13 and this rule begins by saying,
“When the pitcher is in contact with the pitcher’s plate and in possession of the ball and the catcher is in the catcher’s box ready to receive delivery of the ball, base runners shall not leave their bases until the ball has been delivered and has reached the batter.”

The easy part of this rule is that the pitcher has to have the ball and be in contact with the pitcher's plate. Not on the dirt area surrounding the pitcher's plate, but in contact with the actual plate. The more difficult part of the rule to judge is when the catcher is “ready to receive” the ball. At the highest levels of Little League play--regionals and the World Series games, the umpires have held a very narrow definition of when the catcher is ready to receive, so much so, that the pitcher needs to be in the pitcher's stance ready to pitch.

In the lower levels of play, the umpires judgement of this rule may be far more lose, but the only real threat is that they return you to the base you left, or if there was a hit, you may not advance as far as you could have. You are never called out for leaving early.