Leads and Reads: Aggressive Baserunning Drills

with Barry Davis,
Rider University Head Coach; over 900 career wins;
3x MAAC Coach of the Year, 2x MAAC Tournament Champions;
former Gloucester County College Head Coach;
4x NJCAA Division III National Champions;
4x NJCAA Division III National Coach of the Year;
member of the NJCAA Hall of Fame (2016);

Offense is more than just hitting the ball. Aggressive baserunning can be a key factor in putting pressure on the defense and scoring more runs. Barry Davis provides an informative resource for developing a team offense that can score a lot of runs by being aggressive on the base paths!

Using whiteboard breakdowns and on-the-field demonstrations, Davis presents six baserunning drills he uses to get his baserunners leading off aggressively and making good reads on batted balls. Davis explains the fundamental baserunning skills that all runners need, as well as lead-offs and baserunning reads, to put pressure on the opposing defense.

Fundamental Baserunning

Improve your fundamental baserunning ability with Davis' Fly Ball drill. This drill aims to help runners learn to read balls in the air and understand when to advance, tag, or stay.

The Cycle Drill will allow you to practice multiple baserunning situations, like hit and run, scoring from second, and scoring from third on a squeeze. This drill not only enhances a player's ability to read balls, it also improves cardiovascular conditioning

Leads

Be more efficient working on leads with Davis' Four-Corner drill. Have four pitchers on the mound and runners at each base working on their secondary leads. Pitchers can work on their slide steps and pick-off moves, while baserunners work to stretch their leads. Help your pitchers and baserunners work on:

• Hit and run (vs. RHP and LHP)
• Fake steal
• Straight steal on first movement
• Dirt ball read
• Squeeze

Reads

Baserunners must make split second decisions on whether to retreat back to the bag and tag up, or advance if they don't think the ball will be caught. The quality of their decisions can be the difference between them being safe or out. Davis demonstrates a Reads drill and how to work on live reads during batting practice so it's not just your hitters who are maximizing the BP time. Manufacture more runs with runners at third base using three cues, depending on the game situation and defensive alignment:

• Down angle
• Past the pitcher
• Through the infield

This is wonderful resource that allows, even in time-scarce practices, to teach and practice baserunning reads and advancements. By implementing teams drills explained in this resource, you'll not only develop players' baserunning instinct, you'll develop an aggressive offense that capitalizes on opponents' mistakes!

45 minutes. 2018.