You are the runner on 3rd base. The infield is drawn in. How do you give yourself the best chance to score? You will score on a hit, a sacrifice, and possibly on a passed ball/wild pitch. Another way to score that run is by breaking for home once you see the ball hit on the ground. This is commonly known as “the contact play.”
What I like about the contact play is that it puts pressure on the defense. Even with the infield playing in, breaking on contact will force the defense to make three successful plays: 1. The infielder must field the ball cleanly. 2. The infielder must make an accurate throw to the catcher and 3. The catcher must receive the ball and tag you OUT.
Keys To Executing The Contact Play
1. The third base coach should communicate the play to the runner at third base and any other runners on the bases. This is key. If there are runners on 2nd and 3rd, the runner on 2nd will be able to get a better jump if he knows the runner in front of him will be breaking for home on contact.
2. The runner on third should take as much of a lead as he can at third base and get a good secondary walking lead.
3. The runner on third should break for home the instant he sees the ball hit into the ground.
It Could Get Busted
The most common way that the contact play gets busted is when the ball is grounded back to the pitcher. In this case, it’s the runner’s job to get in a rundown long enough to allow the batter to get to 2nd base. Of course, the batter’s gotta be bustin’ down the line to make this happen as well.
Pick Your Spots
Like any baseball play, there are no hard fast rules. You need to consider the situation. How much of a risk are you willing to take given the score and timing of the game? How fast is the runner at third? How strong are the infielders? Etc.
In general, there are two situations when it makes more sense to put on the contact play:
1 OUT–With 1 out, there will be less chances to score that run so you might want to be more aggressive.
RUNNERS ON 2ND AND 3RD–Even if the play gets busted, you will still have a runner in scoring position for the next batter.
What sort of success has your team had with the contact play?
I’m not a big fan of the contact play. We were always taught see it thru with the infield in. With corners in we’d obviously just see it past the pitcher.
In college our coach was big on freezing if it was right at someone but but rolling if they had to move to their backhand side.
That being said those of us that play in the boston area leagues can factor in the field conditions and the odds of the infielder getting a true hop are awfully limited…
I’m going to have to agree with the other writer, not a big fan, but I am a big fan of having as many tricks up your sleeve as possible and sometimes putting on a play like this invigorates your dugout and the players who might be mailing it in that day.
I think using the MoneyBall theory, this will probably create more outs than successes, thus it shouldn’t be used often.
Coach Andy
Part of the consideration is how early in the game you are (too early to , who is on base (speedy? smart?), who is at the plate (will the kid make contact? will he put it in the air?), who is next in the order, and who is pitching (is he tiring? should I rely on the potential for a mistake?)…among other things. That said, strategies like this are best executed by the well-managed teams!