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From The Dugout
By Keith LeClair
©2003 Bonesville.net
Baseball Scholarships:
How the System Works
One of the biggest
challenges a Division-I coach has each year is figuring out how to
balance out 11.7 scholarships and put a championship team on the field.
The 11.7 is the maximum amount of scholarship the NCAA allows each
Division-I baseball team. It’s based on that percentage or equivalency
for each institution and not on an overall dollar amount.
For 11 years as a
head coach, I had to explain how the system worked to every parent and
prospect that stepped into my office. It was by far the most often asked
question when I offered a student athlete a scholarship. In fact, this
was the part of my job I liked least. At times you often felt like a
used car salesman, because Billy Bob was insulted by your offer.
You see, in baseball
there are very few full rides. It’s not like basketball and football
when you offer a kid a scholarship, where it is a full scholarship. I
often wondered how that might feel to be able to offer every kid a full
ride. But in baseball, you have to spread the money around and make it
all work amongst about 30 guys on 11.7 scholarships. It’s by far the
hardest job a baseball coach faces today. Many factors come into play
breaking the money down amongst the team, so it all works out. The
problem is most folks are not aware of all the stress this puts the
coach under.
Here is a typical
year of what my coaching staff and I would go through. For starters,
let’s say we have eight seniors graduating and they take up 3.7
scholarships out of 11.7. So, basically I have that amount of
scholarship percentage to go replace those eight seniors. Now I have to
look at my junior class and see how many guys will get drafted and most
likely sign professional contracts. Let’s say I have three guys I am
pretty sure will get drafted and sign. Their scholarships add up to 1.5,
so I am going to spend their money in the fall. Now I have a total of
5.2 scholarships to spend replacing the 11 guys I am planning on losing.
Are you completely lost yet? Pay attention, it gets a lot better.
To make it easy on
everyone, we will say in-state tuition and room, board and meals, it is
ten grand, and out-of-state tuition is 20 grand for the same thing. This
is where it gets really tough, because you are trying to sign the best
players available to get you to Omaha. Obviously, it’s much cheaper to
do all your recruiting in state, but that is very difficult to do. So,
anytime you go out of state, it’s going to cost you money and a bigger
percentage of your total 11.7 scholarships. For example, we can offer an
out of state kid 50% and that is equivalent to what a walk-on in state
kid would pay. That’s why in baseball you will see, for the most part,
out of state kids on more money. This is just a rule of thumb and does
not mean all in-state kids are on a lesser percentage.
Other factors play
into this scenario as well, one being if the kid and his parents can
afford to pay some money for his son’s education. Other considerations
are what other schools are recruiting this kid and will he be an impact
player? The more schools recruiting a young man will drive the amount
you offer the kid up. One other factor that comes into play is the
draft. You have to ask yourself and scouts will this kid be drafted in
the professional draft come June. If so, you probably won’t keep him
from signing for a 20% scholarship. This holds true for an out-of-state
kid who may only be on 40-50% scholarship.
I hope you are
starting to see the dilemma baseball coaches are under each and every
year. Well, I just spent 5.2 scholarships in the November signing
period. I guess recruiting is over… sorry it’s just beginning. Over fall
workouts, two of our juniors that we didn’t expect to get drafted have
really improved and most likely will be taken in the draft. To make
matters worse, two of our high school signees are absolutely tearing it
up in showcases and scouts are in their homes every night. Those four
kids’ scholarships add up to 1.8 scholarships. I have a huge decision to
make. Do I spend their money or hold on and possibly get burned by the
draft in June? If I wait and don’t do anything, it could significantly
hurt the program the following year. After a staff meeting, I decide to
go out and offer 1.8 more scholarships to incoming freshmen. Before you
get confused and think I have taken a kid’s scholarship away, that’s not
it all. What I have done is what every Top 40 baseball program in the
country does. I have just taken a chance and have gone over the 11.7
scholarships by 1.8 giving me a total of 13.5 scholarships.
It’s time for school
to start in August, and to my amazement, I miscalculated and we are at
11.2 scholarships. One of the other high school kids we didn’t expect to
get drafted did and signed. This is the life of a Division-I baseball
coach year in and year out. Now you all know why I was grey headed at an
early age. You remember that great second baseman we had named Nick
Schnabel? Well, if not for going out on a limb and over-signing, you
never would have ever seen him play in a Pirate uniform. I truly hated
this aspect of my job, because I never liked being a salesman. It’s too
bad baseball coaches are put in this position, but as long as the draft
takes high school seniors and college juniors, this is going to be the
business aspect of collegiate baseball. I hope you enjoyed just part of
what a coach goes through in a season.
First-and-Third Defense
First-and-third
defense is an important arsenal in every team’s package. What becomes
the important factor in determining which one you’re going to execute
depends on many different variables. For instance, your strategy early
in the game is to collect outs, unless you’re down three or four runs
and can't afford to give up anymore. Secondly, you have a middle innings
strategy that may call for more aggressive play to keep runners from
scoring, especially if it’s a tight game and your opponent has a
dominating bullpen. The most common situation is late in the game with
two outs and a tight score. This is when your decision-making becomes
critical and can either win or lose a game. Basically your opponent is
gambling on the notion that they are going to try to force you into a
mistake and steal a run. Most times, the score will either be tied or
you’re down a run and possibly you’re up a run and want insurance. But,
regardless of the situation, you have to execute as a team in tight
games in order to give yourself a chance to win.
Two other factors
that come into a coach’s decision making: One, how well does your
catcher throw and what kind of speed is on first and third? If you have
a speed burner at first this will almost always alter your
decision-making process, compared to an average runner. If your catcher
has an above-average arm, you can be much more aggressive with your plan
of attack.
The second part of
your decision making will depend who is on the mound. Does the pitcher
hold runners well and is he quick to the plate, enabling your catcher to
have a chance to throw the guy out at second? For example, with a guy
like Sam Narron, who has a great move, we would be much more aggressive
in throwing through to second and getting the out, compared to a guy who
is much slower to the plate and has no move. Then our focus of attack
becomes the guy at third base in trying to get the out.
Enough said, let’s
talk about plays to use and the responsibility of our infielders.
Basically, I used to run six first-and-third defensive plays throughout
the course of the year. Which one I ran depended on what I discussed
earlier as far as how important that runner on third meant to the score
of the game. Obviously, if your team is not very productive offensively,
you become much more concerned about giving up these kinds of runs, as
well as facing a dominant pitcher where you know runs will be hard to
come by. Here are the six plays we would run:
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This play we
throw straight through and do not pay any attention to guy on third.
Basically, we are conceding a run. In this situation we are up in
the game and outs are more important than runs. The catcher’s job is
to come up out of the shoot and check the runner at third and throw
a strike to second base (the catcher checks the runner out of the
corner of his left eye; what this does is freeze the runner at third
base a step). The first baseman’s job is to let everyone know the
runner is going and then, after the pitch is controlled by the
catcher, he trails the runner half way to second in case the runner
pulls up and there is a run down. Especially with two outs, because
if the third out is recorded before the runner at third crosses home
plate, the run does not count. The shortstop and second baseman’s
job is to apply the tag or execute a rundown if the runner pulls up.
Whose responsibility it is to take the bag will be determined by the
bag. The middle infielder who does not have the bag will back up and
become third man in the rundown. The third baseman’s job is to read
the pitched ball and, once secured by the catcher, break to third
base reading the runner. This will cause the runner at third to cut
his secondary lead back. The third baseman always has the option to
give the catcher palms up if he sees the runner way off third. This
allows the catcher to have the option to throw behind the runner at
third. The pitcher’s job on this play is to peel back to first base
in case of rundown between first and second.
-
This play is
basically the same as play one, except the second baseman has the
option of coming and getting the ball from the catcher and making
the relay to the plate. This gives our guys two options and we run
this play when we feel cutting the run down at the plate is
important, but not critical. You also run this if the guy on third
is an average runner. It’s still important to get an out when this
play is on. The only responsibilities that change will be the middle
infielders'. On this play, I always wanted our second baseman to
cover the bag, because he has the best view of reading the runner at
third and making the decision to stay back and collect an out or
come get ball and make the relay to the plate. Our own Nick Schnabel
was the best I ever saw at executing this play. The shortstop has to
break hard to third if the second baseman relays the ball to the
plate in case of a rundown. It is important that the catcher
elevates ball at least waist high so the second baseman can handle
the ball, and it’s also important that the pitcher fakes catching
the ball from the catcher to freeze the runner at third.
-
This play is to
defense the delayed steal used when the runner breaks for second as
the ball enters the strike zone. It’s used to catch the defense off
guard and force the catcher into making a poor decision. I would use
this play with a slow runner on first and we know it is coming. The
catcher’s responsibility is to again do a good job checking the
runner and not to panic. He will throw a strike to the second
baseman who will receive the ball about ten feet up the bag from
second. The second baseman again reads the runner at third and if
the runner breaks on the catcher’s throw, he will cut the ball and
relay it home. If the runner does not break from third, the second
baseman will catch the ball and go hard at the runner coming from
first to record the third out before the runner scores. In this
case, we won't even pay attention to the runner at third, because we
feel confident we can get the third out before he scores.
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We use this play
when we can’t afford to give up a run or the guy on first is a
burner and we notice the guy being really aggressive on third. All
we do here is throw a ball head high to the pitcher and he cuts the
throw off. Immediately he will turn to third looking for the out. If
the runner holds and reads the play, the pitcher will turn and look
for the out at second. It’s important that the catcher doesn’t slow
his arm down on his throw back to the pitcher — he has to sell play.
If the runner breaks on the catcher’s throw and is hung up in the
baseline, it’s important that the pitcher stays under control and
walks at the runner, giving the ball up to the catcher or third
baseman. Yes, I said walk, or you will have a pitcher doing the
Ickey Woods shuffle trying to tag the runner.
-
This is simply a
pump fake to second by the catcher and looking backdoor to catch the
runner off third. Again, we will use this when we have speed on the
bases and they are really aggressive in making things happen. The
score will most likely be tight and the run is critical. This play
only works if the catcher uses a great fake to second. It’s also
important that the third baseman stays on the inside of the bag to
give the catcher a throwing lane.
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The last and
final play will be a direct throw from the catcher to third. This
play works with an aggressive runner at third and his run is
important to keep from scoring. The third baseman again has to stay
inside the base for a throwing lane. His job is applying a good tag
directly to the base and not up high where the runner’s foot can get
under the tag.
Well folks, I am worn
out and I hope you all learned a thing or two about first and third
defense. Have a Merry Christmas and I will be back after the New Year
with a Conference USA preseason breakdown of each team. God bless you
all this holiday.
02.23.07 10:27 AM
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