Why I’m Against the Opened Stance

Matt Talarico, StealBases.com

When we are discussing base stealing technique from our “Old School” system we are generally talking about eliminating wasted movement as much as possible. That is what a good “Old School” jump is – having a great reaction to the pitcher’s leg lift with zero wasted motion in our lateral acceleration.

We work on this often with our steal starts during practice (see Old School system). During this time I often encourage guys to try different methods but to keep these attempts realistic. For example, you will never get into a sprinter’s stance because you would get easily picked off; this would be unrealistic. We encourage play with the height of your stance, the position of your arms, your focal point, etc. This is part of our base stealing “personality” which doesn’t affect good technique.

The Go To Cheat:

Year in and year out the main effort I get to “cheat” is to turn the lead foot open. Players will often take their foot back and point their toes to second base. This happens every year and it is the biggest “secret” to internet gurus when it comes to base stealing when you search on the computer.  The “secret” is to either stagger your feet so the lead foot is 3-5 inches back to “clear the hip” or to turn your foot open.  Here is an example of an open foot…

Now, if you watch my “Old School” breakdowns then you will see I mention to do this a little bit but I am talking about a small amount and I’m talking a 1 to 2 inch stagger… that’s it.

Coaches, why do you never see better 60-yard dashes from guys who are really opened?

Think about it…

You are at a showcase or a camp and 100 campers are all running the 60… They get in a long line and the first 2 get up to run from their leadoff stance and this continues for the majority of the 60s. Some guys are in a perfectly squared stance, some are more staggered, some are in a really crouched position, some stand tall, etc. All of this is ok… even if you know that isn’t how they run in a game. We, as coaches, all know it isn’t going to help their time… if they are 6.7 runners it will be fast, if they are 8.0 runners it is going to be slow.

All of the sudden a random person gets up that wasn’t really paying attention and tries to do a sprinter stance (or 3 point stance). Every coach stops the runner and says “wait, wait, wait… you have to get in a leadoff stance.” This happens at every showcase. We know this start would give him an unfair advantage.

You would think that the closer I could make my leadoff stance to the sprinter stance then the faster I will be. Well I don’t think this is the case.

Let me explain…

1.) The risk isn’t worth the reward.

The more staggered I am the more difficult it is to get my lead leg around my trail leg to return. This makes us vulnerable to quicker pickoffs.

Remember, I am always in the business of LOW risk, high reward. The best base stealing argument against Sabermetrics is that the risk isn’t as high as they are making it out to be when you learn the proper skill set (to learn the skill set click here and join).

This isn’t a one-way deal where we are going to second no matter what. This is more of a tennis scenario where we have to react one-way or the other. To go left has to be equally as efficient as going right.

Our stance has to be friendly both ways.

2.) It doesn’t really help

Back to our showcase scenario…

The reason we let all the showcase players run with a very staggered start is because over time, and yes recruiters have watched a million 60-yard dashes, we don’t get burnt. Meaning, we never watch a player run a 7.0 60 (average speed for most division 1 teams), who hits, fields and throws too. We go back and recruit the player and his family, sign him, then bring him to campus. The first day we run 60s and make him get in a proper steal start position then he runs a 7.7.

This doesn’t happen! Why? Because he runs the exact same 7.0 from his squared start.

If this were not the case we would talk about people staggering just as we do catchers throwing their pop times (which, if you don’t know, there are catchers at showcases that are almost standing up to cheat pop times… we make them get in a proper stance… because THIS MATTERS).

Coaches would realize over time that this cheating stance was getting inaccurate times and we would make them change.

Why doesn’t this work?

I am open to having freedom in your stance. I never make anyone do a leadoff stance 100% how I like it. So again, we encourage having the front foot slightly behind the rear foot… slightly. For me this just encourages the FEEL of getting out a bit quicker by “clearing your right hip.”

Staggering doesn’t really work because it takes the slingshot effect out of your start. This is very similar to hitting. I want to stay squared to the plate as much as possible. If I leak open too soon it can really come with the costly trade of power. This is an entirely different conversation, but the logic is the same. I want to use my setup to explode from the start to cover as much ground as I possibly can while I accelerate. In my next member-only update I will cover this in more detail (check out the Steal Start Technique page here).

This is why we don’t see really fast times with staggered feet. The more you learn proper technique you will be able to use a more squared stance to create elasticity in your initial jump. Don’t rob yourself of this. In fact, try it out. Learn to stay closed longer and concentrate on proper arm action and your results will be much better than having feet staggered 5 inches apart or having your front foot turned open.

Practice proper technique and you will see great results in your jumps but also in other areas of baseball where you need to be efficient in your reactions.

Members, please check the 2016 Blog Section for added updates. Including a day-by-day guide to what we are doing to start the fall season!

Check back for more blog updates soon!

Check out the member-only site for a step-by-step program to develop your base stealing.