The big benefits of small ball

I spoke to two experienced high school coaches from different parts of the country a couple of weeks ago. Neither had a big bat, a home run threat in their lineup. Both coaches had hard working players who hustled and practiced what the coach told them to do, which was smart pitching, clean defense, effective bunting, running, and base stealing. And both of these teams won state championships this year.

In any competition, you’ve got to use what you’ve got. You may not have any big boys that can knock the ball into the trees. And it takes a long time to develop that, and it may not be possible to make everyone into a consistent deep ball threat. But in the span of one preseason, you can develop your team into a very effective winning machine. Small ball can bring consistent results.

The game elements of small ball include solid pitching and defense. On offense, you need to take walks, sacrifice bunt, execute hit-and-runs, hit sacrifice flies, steal bases, and take advantage of every opportunity that the opponent gives you. Bunting for instance, is a talent but it certainly is teachable and learnable. Waiting to show your intentions, deciding where to place the ball, running as fast as possible to put pressure on the defense to make a play. Base stealing is more than raw speed. It’s reading the pitcher

Small ball works best when you use it over the entire game. Forcing the action, making the defense make plays, hustling, stealing bases may yield you a run every couple of innings. Rarely will you get a huge outburst, a big rally playing small ball. But you can drive your opponents crazy if you do it well. They will not enjoy playing you in the future, which can work to your advantage then.

Small ball doesn’t work well if you get behind more than a couple of runs. It’s hard to stay on the plan if you know you’re not likely to make up runs in bunches.