By Brandon Hall
North Carolina Director of Scouting

We have all heard of the proverbial “Book of Baseball”.  This is the book that tells players and coaches how to act in certain situations on the baseball field…

+ Don’t bunt for a hit in the final innings of a potential no-hitter
+ Don’t steal bases up 6+ runs in the final few innings
+ Pitchers have the right to buzz a hitter if the hitter shows up a pitcher

For every aspect of the game there is a situation that players and coaches are expected to act a certain way.  If they don’t act in that way, they are considered to be disrespecting the game and their opponent.  In 2007, I was a staff member on a very good club and we were rolling through our league play.  On a Sunday at home, we were up 8 in the 5^th inning and our 9-hole hitter laid down a 2 out bunt for a hit.  This did not go over well in the other dugout… Their thought is we were working to run the score up.  Our hitter was following what he had been taught – He saw an 0-0 slider for a strike and felt another one was coming in the 0-1 count.  It was a beautiful bunt.

The next half, the first base coach runs across the field, and is working to stick up for his players, which I can respect.  He called the bunt “bush” and questioned our class as a program.  Our thought was, it is a Sunday where pitching can run thin and runs can come in bunches.  We were going to keep playing our game.  As the inning went on and the first base coach continued to talk to our dugout and our staff, he was asked one question – “Do you quit?  If you quit, we will stop playing our game, but you have to surrender the game and give away the rest of your at-bats.  You cannot make a run to get back into the game, and if you do, you have to roll over and play dead because you are quitting right now.  If you do this, we will not bunt, steal, or take extra bases.  We will take the win and ask our players to play station to station.”  The question was met with silence as they were not going to quit… So we kept playing.

Just as in this case, there is a “Book” for recruits.  Some of the things coaches are evaluating do not have anything to do with whether a player can play baseball and it really does not give any insight into the character of the player.  But it is in the “Book” and players “should know better”.  We are going to walk through some of the things that we as coaches have heard other coaches say, or evaluate.  The idea is that players should know, because whether or not it has any effect on the game, or gives any insight to the player, coaches are watching.

Getting Off The Bus

Players have heard this before and just about every coach has a story about a player showing up and getting out of his car and coaches making a decision on the player right there.