As a young coach who grew up playing baseball at a decent level and now I coach youth baseball . But after some years away from the game I was rusty on all these different situations and I'm finding your channel great for refreshing all these different situational plays , and just a tremendous amount of knowledge in your videos useful for someone wanting to learn coaching or a player wanting to learn how to be better and more elite !!
Amazing job of explaining basic cutoffs and how important they are to limiting runs. Every youth player regardless of position needs to watch this! Great job, Rizz!!!
This is really helpful and intuitive! I learned today that as a 1B I need to fake the cuts when OFs are throwing to the plate. This is really great for understanding the approach to how deep to set up for the cut. I appreciate you!
I'm glad you emphasized (twice!) that the outfielders should always throw to their TARGET, not the cutoff man. If the throw is to the plate, the CATCHER is the target! If the throw is to 3rd, then the third baseman is the target. If the cutoff man is positioned correctly and the throw has the proper trajectory, the throw will be catchable by the cutoff man and prevent other runners from advancing farther. This is often taught incorrectly as outfielders are often (incorrectly) taught to, "Throw it to the cutoff man!" What if the cutoff man is not aligned properly? Are you going to throw it to him? NO! This is very basic baseball. You always focus on your intended target. The outfielder focuses on the *catcher* for the same reason the pitcher does when he pitches.
Remember the difference between a relay man and a cutoff man. You throw TO the relay man because you don't know which base the relay man will throw to. The cutoff man is for a specific base, you're throwing to that base.
Thank you for this great video. The guidance on "how deep" cutoff man should position, faking a cut/throw against other runners, is awesome. I had to watch this video several times, taking down notes, to fully understand all the if-then scenarios. And they make a lot of sense. My son currently plays in 12U. The team still cycles through all the kids through almost all positions in the field. Not doing dedicated positions yet. The team hasn't taught these finer details of if-then like this video describes. And I can't imagine they teach it, unless most of the infielders are playing in dedicated positions. They way they currently handle it, is simply for the two mid-IF's to move towards the ball. The first one finding an empty 2B is the one covering it; the other guy becomes a CO for the throw to LR+2. But I definitely see how such a CO becomes ineffective in faking and keeping the batter/runner on 1st base, if there was already a runner on 1st, hit goes to CF or RF, and OF's throw is to 3rd.
Thanks for the feedback! The players in our organization tend to play multiple positions as well, so the challenges you describe concerning the difficulties of players learning these basic cutoffs, is definitely relative. My experience is that, at that age group, the middle infielders tend to grasp it a little better, because they are used to being the cutoff of most plays. The 1st and 3rd basemen tend to be the biggest challenge in getting them to the point that with a runner on 2nd they anticipate being the cutoff for a play at the plate. Getting a young 1st or 3rd basemen to the point they can remember, and then successfully run a cutoff to the plate is a big stepping stone. Doesn’t happen overnight, and can be frustrating for sure, but that should be the goal of travel, youth baseball. Learning to play the game the right way is so much more important than a teams record. Thanks again for the feedback, and good luck!
Thanks! Unfortunately it has been years since I’ve read a baseball book, so the only one I can recommend is the classic “the science of hitting” by Ted Williams.
@@eliteyouthbaseball2885 Double Play Videos, Who takes the bag on throw to 2nd from C, Lead off and steal videos, pick off moves to all 3 bags, Balk videos, bunt coverages, when to shift infield and outfield, Holding a runner and throwing to 1st, fielder's choice, etc... I can think of a ton of topics.
The 4:25 or so play where 3rd is cutoff for home needs further discussion. The catcher lines up on the third baseman so the throw is in line. This nearly puts him out of position to make the play at home. Incredible athleticism saves the play. In an ideal world 3B should have lined up a little more towards the 3B line to get the catcher in position.
Ok, say that there’s a runner on second, and a single to center field and the cf throws the ball to the first baseman. My question is when should the first baseman preform the deak. Like, how close should the ball be away from him? Sorry if that didn’t make any sense. Anyway great video.
Hi, nice video, just a question: don't you think that, at youth and lower level, as the runner is running at home from second, it would be better the 2b is a bridge (in particular with the hit in the alleys) instead checking the 1st base?! Thanks in advance
Sorry for the delayed response. It’s age and “baseball IQ” dependent obviously, but my typical approach is to start with a “slow motion” situation drill where we set a defense up along with a base runner, then everyone walks through a typical play, including the base runner. First goal is to set up in perfect positioning. Once the team can achieve that, then speed it up. Once the team is more comfortable, I run a drill I call “4 numbers”. I use this drill to try and stress out the defense like an actual game tends too. It’s a simple drill. Set a defense up, no base runners, and the coach yells out 4 numbers, then fungos a ball. For example: I might yell “2342”, then fungo a base hit to left field. Left fielder is throwing to 2nd base (SS is the cutoff), 2nd baseman receives the throw, swipe tags an imaginary runner, then fires the ball to 3rd base. 3rd baseman swipe tags an imaginary runner then fires the ball to the catcher, who tags and then throws to 2nd base. Make sure outfielders are correctly backing up the various throws. This forces the kids to process a lot of information while still trying to react quickly, as well as “handle the baseball” (basically errorless throwing and catching). “2134” and a ground ball to shortstop turns into a double play turn for middle, with the first baseman throwing across to a tag play at 3rd, and then the 3rd baseman throwing home. Again, although the ball never leaves the infield, the outfielders and pitcher should be getting into proper backup positions, so everyone on the field is engaged. With younger kids I yell the 4 numbers and then give them a couple seconds before putting the ball into play. Eventually speeding it up. Hope that makes sense, and is helpful.
Would have liked to have seen the scenario with a runner on 1st base and a sure double to either gap or over CF head. Do you have your 1st baseman trail the batter/runner to 2nd base or do you have the 1st baseman be the cutoff man at home plate?
I have a second video on cutoffs called “double cuts” where I cover some of this. To answer your specific question about the 1st baseman’s role on doubles, at the college level and higher, most teams have him trail the runner into second base. Some teams have him remain as the cutoff though. Personally, at the youth level, I am leaning more towards keeping the first baseman as a cutoff for a couple reasons. -One being that middle infielders arms aren’t overly strong yet. -The second being to simplify the first baseman’s role in relays and cutoffs, since even at the upper ages of travel ball (15u-17u) very few players entering our program have been taught how to run proper cutoffs, so they have a lot being thrown at them. So long answer short, I don’t know that there is a right or wrong way to run the first basemen’s roll, it’s more team/coach preference. With that said, I personally have the higher baseball IQ guys in our Canes program trail the base runner on doubles down the line, but on doubles gap to gap, I have them run their traditional cutoff for a possible play at the plate (if there was a runner on first). Hope this made sense. Thanks for the comment!
@@eliteyouthbaseball2885 Yes, very much makes sense. I agree with your breakdown. In bigger ballparks with deeper gaps and a middle infielder has a longer throw to the plate, seems to me having the 1st baseman as a cutoff for home is better utilization than trailing the runner to 2nd base. If the 2nd baseman or SS throw is off line any at all, you not only don't have a play at the plate, you don't have the ability to relay a throw to plate or redirect ball to 3rd or even 2nd base behind the runner..... there should be an outfielder available to cover 2nd base regardless of which gap the ball is hit, right? Anyway, a debate came up among some coaches and I argued you were kinda wasting the 1st baseman as a trail man in that situation since an outfielder could cover 2b. What's more important.... the chance to relay an offline throw from a middle infielder for a play at home plate or redirect an offline throw to 3rd base, or the catcher trying to throw behind the batter/runner at 2nd base if he gets caught too far off bag? Thanks for getting back to me, really appreciated you sharing your thoughts on that particular play.
Great question. The 2 reasons a cutoff typically cuts the ball is 1) If the throw is off line. 2) If the player at the base tells him to cut it. For example, lets say there is a base hit to left field and the third baseman gets lined up correctly as the cutoff, and the throw from the left fielder is a step or 2 towards the pitchers mound, then the cutoff should automatically cut the ball because the throw will pull the catcher off the plate. If it is a good throw, then the cutoff should just be listening to the catcher. I teach our catchers to (after he has helped to line up the third baseman properly) to only yell if he wants the ball cut, and he should only yell "cut 1, cut 2, cut 3, cut 4 (*rarely), or cut hold". That way all the third baseman has to do is listens for the catchers voice, and if he hears it he is cutting the ball. A lot of catchers will yell stuff like "let it go", but now you're asking your third baseman to try and handle an outfield throw while at the same time process exactly what the catcher is saying, and especially for the younger kids, this can be a bit too much information at one. To go back to *, occasionally, the throw will be off line, but the catcher may determine that there is still a play at the play, and that would be one of the few times the catcher will yell "cut 4". A perfect example would be this play from the World series a couple years ago ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qHvHCj1nPec.html Hope that helps, thanks again for the great question, that is something I should have covered in the video.
@@eliteyouthbaseball2885 Excellent! I coach my son's rec teams, and he's now at the pony level. I've never heard that explained until now, and I appreciate it. One more question if I may. On the throw to home, why is the third baseman the cutoff and not the shortstop. In my mind, it seems easier for the shortstop. But there must be some reason why it's done that way. Thanks again!
Mainly because as arm strengths increase, the cutoff will need to get more depth (closer to the catcher) to place himself at that correct “head height” of the throw. At younger ages this depth is closer to the infield dirt, so as you suggested, the shortstop could easily get there, but since that’ll not be the case as kids get older, we might as well teach the correct way now so they don’t need to re-learn it later.
Great point and is actually covered at the end of my "Doubles Cut" video. I show where the SS should be on a double to right field at the higher levels (college/pros), and what he's should be looking for. Jeter did all of that perfectly, and when he read the bad throw, being the hall of fame athlete he is, made an amazing play look easy.
The cut off is typically there to cut “off line” throws, or redirect the baseball to a different base. And yes, occasionally the “cutoff” can turn into the “relay”. Thanks for the question, hopefully this answered it.
You might need to simplify it a little bit, but that’s typically the age we start implementing cutoffs in our org. Obviously it takes a lot of reps and patience before they totally “get” it, but it’s a great time to create a good foundation
It sounds like you have game commentary in the background of some of (e.g. 5:40), and it kind of sounds like this goes through the entire video. Especially in these parts where it's just you describing something and the audience trying to listen, that commentary is really desitracting, maybe consider removing that?
Let's say there's nobody on base and the batter hits a gapper. The shortstop or second baseman does *not* go out to perform the roll of "cutoff" man. What is the advantage to cutting off a ball while standing in the shallow outfield? Mostly, he's going out in the event the ball gets *by* the outfielder. In that case, he is now ready to play the role of RELAY man because of the great distance the ball will now have to go to get back into the infield. Sure, sometimes the left fielder tosses the ball to the shortstop, but that's not so much a "cutoff" as it is just a simple throw to get the ball back into the infield. It's obvious to everybody that the batter is NOT going to try and stretch a routine single into a double, so there's no reason to launch the ball from left field all the way to 2nd base. But, let's say a batter who has hit a routine single to left field foolishly tries to stretch that into a double. What's the role of the shortstop on this play? Nothing, really. He aligns himself with the left fielder's throw, but the expectation is that the left fielder is throwing it to the second baseman at the bag. I can't think of any reason for that ball to be cutoff UNLESS the throw is very, very much off target.
People are coming to this at different points in their lives, and possibly from positions they have never played before. No need to be a jerk on a really helpful video.
