Ben Bizier@TheTruthFromBen
When I took over as HC I created a sign system that no one else had or has ever had since. It was never compromised because it had simple audibles and corrections. Every sign was given clear as day right in front of everyone to see, I never hid it. Not once.
Here is our system:
Any traditional sign I ever gave was a dummy, it meant nothing
If I held up a number, it stood for a particular sign. For instance, 5 stood for ‘run and hit.’ But the number I held up always added to the current inning we were in, so if we were in the 2 inning and I held up a 3, we were in a ‘run and hit.’ If I had a stop watch in my hand, whatever number I held up was a dummy, it meant nothing so player could ignore if they saw my stop watch in my hand.
I coached 1st base.
With a runner on 1st, I always recited either the catchers pop time or the pitchers ‘time to the dish’ to my players, each pitch. The hundredth was the sign. 2 was a green light and 3 was a delayed steal. If I said, ‘pitcher is a 1.42 to the dish,’ green light was on. If I said, ‘catcher is a 2.03 to 2nd,’ a delayed steal was on.
With a runner on second, if I physically faced home, red light. If I faced 2nd base, green, if I faced RF, auto action you must run no matter what I am playing the situation not your jump.
With runners on 1st and 3rd, I invented ‘X and X-choke,’ and it was by far the single biggest reason I had such a good win-loss record. X meant we were running with intention to score the guy on 3rd only if the defense prioritized getting our guy on 1st out. If 2nd base was achieved or conceited, we could switch to X-choke in the middle of a play. X-choke meant we were maintaining our normal level of aggression at 1st but would look for mistakes on 3rd. This offense was nearly unstoppable unless trained against, and most coaches were unable to ever come close to stopping it.
We also had nuanced signs and systems within our system. For instance from 2nd base if I pointed at my watch the runner was instructed to use a ‘timing system’ to steal 3rd and if I pointed at my eyes he was to use our ‘look system.’ From 3rd if I pointed at my eyes it was ‘see it through,’ or at the ground ‘go on contact down.’
We never practiced bunting, I refused to spend so much time forcing my players to punch your face that I couldn’t bring myself to spend time training to give you an out.
The best time to run globally is after a bases clearing RBI single or double, this is indisputable. The best time to steal 3rd base is the pitch directly after you have stolen 2nd base.
Delay steals should be executed off the 1) Middle infield not active 2) Catchers left knee dropping 3) Opposing Head Coach sleeping.
The perfect time to go is when your posture is still at 50/50 right when the catchers mitt goes ‘pop’
We invented the ‘dead steal.’ Imagine walking down a hallway and all of the sudden breaking into a full sprint without ever disrupting your natural stride or body posture.
We had a ‘live to fight another day’ mantra where we measured risk and stupidity against one another. No fear of looking stupid allowed, which forced me to watch a lot of stupid things and pat my players on the rear end after such an action.
Last and one of the most important guidelines: Be creative. Try something new to add to our system.
There was a reason we led the state at 99 stolen bases and also at 250+! Because we had guys constantly adding to what we were doing overall, which was making you feel uneasy about our aggressiveness.
If we are in the bottom of the 9th down by 1 with runners on 1st and 2nd, we are not bunting, we are double stealing. We didn’t care about anything except trying to slit your throat, figuratively speaking of course.
We lost games because of me but won many more because of the players approach and buy-in to this overall system.
