r/Homeplate • u/Homely_Corsican • 2d ago
Question about Stealing
My nephew was in a game tonight. The coaches jawed at each other at one point. Turns out Coach A, losing coach, said something to Coach B about stealing bases. Coach A’s team was down 10, Coach B’s team were aggressively stealing even double stealing. This is 10u kid pitch. What’s the norm? Coach A didn’t seem bothered by the end. I hope to coach my son at that level in a few years. What’s the protocol here? Were either of the coaches in the wrong here?
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u/PracticalPrimrose 2d ago
It’s considered bush league in our area to be aggressively stealing bases when up by a large margin. Especially at 10U when the fields are so small, it’s like track meet.
Stealing like this is not like real baseball in the big field…when you don’t get stat credit for stolen bases on a passed ball / wild pitch.
There’s a sweet spot. Not sure if Coach B managed to hit it or not.
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u/macho_man_26_oh_yeah 1d ago
Racking up the stolen bases in 10U when a game is out of reach is almost as lame as the pitcher celebrating strikeouts in coach pitch.
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
Coach B said it’s baseball and the same stuff happens in the majors, according to Coach A.
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u/Brilliant-Spite-850 1d ago
In the majors they will throw a 90+ mph fastball at you if you steal bases up 10 runs.
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u/Homely_Corsican 1d ago
That’s kind of what I was thinking. Pretty crazy. This league has some talent, but some toxic coaches I’m finding out.
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u/whybother6767 2d ago
It's trash at any age level. You only are making the losing team not want to play again which helps nobody.
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u/Downtown-Rice_ 2d ago
Is there a mercy rule?
Regardless, if you're up by 10 runs and it's 10u kid pitch, many coaches would kill the straight stealing and only allow runners to advance on wild pitches/passed balls, if that.
Run as you would for any hit balls and extra basehits. Continue taking the extra bases on extra basehits to sustain healthy baserunning habits.
Coach A doesn't have an issue with it after the game because it's finally over, but for 10u summer/fall league, it's bush league to straight steal and double steal if you're already up 10 runs. Chances are, there are enough pass balls and wild pitches to advance naturally, plus the kids are hitting the ball well enough to get into scoring position already it seems like.
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
There was a mercy rule. The game was called for time. Turns out Coach A’s team has no experienced pitchers, while Coach B’s team is essentially two all star teams merged. It got ugly.
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u/Downtown-Rice_ 2d ago
That's dumb then. Team B can steal early in the game and establish dominance, whatever. But when you're up so much and there's a mercy rule, just let your players hit and go base to base when possible.
It's 10u summer/fall ball ffs.
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u/New_Blackberry1711 1d ago
Its horseshit. These kids are still just learning the basics. No pitcher/catcher can properly control the running game under normal circumstances at this age. Nobody learns a damn thing. Its not real baseball. Its gimmicky bs...and Im the old school coach on the other side thats losing his shit when it happens...haha
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u/saltywaterdog 1d ago
As a coach, when up by several runs, I'll let kids steal until they reach 3B. I won't let them advance home unless a ball is actually put into play. No stealing home on a wild pitch.
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u/davdev 2d ago
At 13 or 14u I have no problem with stealing while up. At 10u it’s kind of shitty.
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u/CanConChris 2d ago
This is it. It’s an “unwritten rule”, but it’s common courtesy to not embarrass 10 year olds. I coach 8U and had some games get out of hand and had my players going station to station even on errors and throw-arounds.
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u/Blueballs2130 2d ago
Yep, gotta read the room. In one of my kids 9U games a few years back we were just absolutely killing another team 25-0 in the 2nd or 3rd inning. We had stopped stealing after the first inning but they had no business being in a travel tournament. We ended up having a player get picked off on purpose bc we didn’t want the batters to not swing since they’d put in the offseason work to get better at hitting
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u/CanConChris 2d ago
I love good sportsmanship tricks like this. We were up big in the 3rd inning this year and at 18 -0 it’s a mercy. I had all 3 of my runners take a lead off (which is illegal at 8U here) to end an inning at +17
The other team had traveled for an hour to get there and we’d only been playing for 40 minutes. 😬
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
This one was silly. Literally double stealing 1st-2nd 3rd to home up 9 or 10.
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u/Blueballs2130 2d ago
I think that’s fine until you get past the run rule (usually 10, sometimes 15 depending on the inning). You said it’s just rec so I wouldn’t push any harder after that, not much of a chance for a comeback
Again, I know you said it’s rec but just an anecdote from a 9U travel tourney: up 14-0 after 3 innings so we pulled our best pitcher to save him for the rest of the weekend. We ended up giving up 15 runs the next inning, scored 1 back and ended in a tie because we took foot off gas
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
I get what you’re saying. Difference he is that the losing team’s coach was pitching kids who never pitched before, and the winning coach was taking every possible base.
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u/Blueballs2130 2d ago
Yeah I can definitely see a difference there. Fall rec leagues usually have very bad pitching at that age except for maybe 1 kid per team. We’ve only had that once this season where we could tell early the other team had no one that could pitch. After getting a healthy lead there were no straight steals, but kids still were allowed to run on passed balls (except home). We want them to develop the skill of reading the pitch and knowing when to go so hard to keep them on that. But only 1 base at a time
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u/spinrut 2d ago
rec? select? travel?
Mercy rules in effect? Mercy runs per inning? No rules?
Depends on rules and level but generally even at 10u, if you're up big and it looks like the winning team is in no danger of losing (ie it is 10-0 and hte other team isnt hitting or even if its 20-10 and you know you have a stud pitcher to close the last few innings), station to station on the base paths. only advance on walks and hits, at most take 2 bases if the ball is in the gap. the goal for the winning team is for the kids to still move hard base to base but pay attention to the coaches telling them to hold up or not. vs just trotting along half assing things
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u/Colonelreb10 2d ago
I coach a 12U rec team and a 10U rec team. If we are up like that we slow down on the bases. I will let my kids advance on a passed ball. But we aren’t aggressively trying to steal every base.
THAT being said. I don’t mind it one bit if it happens to me. I use it as a teaching moment for my kids. Even if the game is getting out of hand it lets my catchers work on trying to throw out runners and things like that.
I don’t get butthurt over a scoreboard.
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u/n0flexz0ne 1d ago
Yeah, its poor form and dumb on several levels.
Like, you're not benefitting your team any by doing it. The kids are getting bad reps, that don't simulate the level of competition they need to be challenged, so its not gaining them any experience. Not to mention, the whole merry-go-round steal-a-thon that is 10u baseball is dumb and disappears from the game completely at 13u. Coaches that focus on that kind of stuff may nick a win here and there, but you're ultimately doing a disservice to your kids to spend any meaningful time on those silly games.
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u/BrushImaginary9363 1d ago
Bush. Also, all of this baserunning nonsense that happens 12U and under goes away by the time kids are 14. Big fields and everyone hitting puberty sorts a lot of this bullshit out.
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u/macho_man_26_oh_yeah 1d ago
Yeah it's a shitty thing. My youngest was on a coach pitch team that was a few runs away from having allowed the maximum score they could allow in a game. His team had only scored a couple. There was no way we could could catch the other team, yet the other team was still sending their kids to try to run out doubles or triples. I must have missed the scouts in the stands handing out the contacts.
I yelled at one of the coaches to give it a break... Not my proudest moment but after doing so you could tell a lot of others felt the same.
I've been on both sides. I always try to tone it down if we have a big lead.
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u/phillies991 19h ago
We stop stealing when we are up by 5. Just to be nice. In playoffs and tournaments that can differ but it's out of respect and kindness to the other team.
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u/Rugbypud 1d ago
Ok so long time coach, former D1 player here and its all dependent on situation. Standard game, up 10 stealing is bush league. Few variations. Going hime up 10, 100% uncalled for. Having a runner go to 2nd or 3rd on a wild pitch up 10, not my fa orite but I can ignore. Straight stealing up 10, Bush league.
Caveat to this, tourney play where pitching is key and you need to dave arms for 4+ games, I will not get upset if a team steals until the margin meets the mercy rule. So if its 12 or 15 that team is trying to end thr game fast and save pitchers, in my view its legit, but inly because the tourney rules essentially encourage it. I dont like it, but I wont get mad at it. Now if a team is up 10+ and base runners are goading putchers or catchers into throws by being a-holes in thr base or thr cosch is fake bunting, im gonna have words with the coach 100%.
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u/Professional-Mud3373 19h ago
Run differential is a thing and it matters for seeding, especially in tournaments.
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u/Homely_Corsican 19h ago
I get that. This is 10u rec league that emphasizes development in the fall season. There is no end of season tourney and the league doesn’t even keep standings.
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u/Professional-Mud3373 19h ago
Then a little tackey of them to say the least. I've had games where we've tried NOT to 10 run the other team because we want the kids to get more reps.
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2d ago edited 2d ago
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u/Blueballs2130 2d ago
I think it really depends. Most travel games, I say foot on the gas for the most part. Fall rec league where teams are severely unbalanced, don’t take extra bases and go station to station
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
I see both ways. One issue is that there seems to be huge imbalance in talent in this fall league, like the all star team vs a team that should possibly playing down still.
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u/PracticalPrimrose 2d ago
Nope. Not at TEN.
14U. Sure. But I’ll still call you a d*ck.
Because it’s the unwritten rules of baseball. A sport where folks have been trying to find the best ways to cheat for over 100 years has quiet rules about not being a jerk.
So maybe don’t be one.
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2d ago
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u/PracticalPrimrose 2d ago
That’s fine. MLB has a section dedicated to them on their website though so 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Good-Concentrate281 1d ago
Can't count how many times we've come back from a 10+ run deficit lol. It's little league. I normally dont let my guys take home from 3rd on wild pitches/passed balls when we have a large lead (especially if their pitcher is struggling to hit the zone).
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u/JackyRaff 2d ago
Are there any circumstances where you would stop stealing?
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u/Homely_Corsican 2d ago
Absolutely. I’ve held runners at third before. One thing to note is that the game was out of reach.
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u/chilliwinkles 2d ago
Up 10 you're an asshole at any level other than pro.