YBE 151: Advanced Baserunning with Tyler Gillum

Can advanced baserunning be taught to youth players? Tyler Gillum from South Mountain Community College and the Savannah Bananas says yes, and explains how to teach advanced baserunning to your kids in part 1 of a two-part interview.

(Note: I mention in the intro to the episode that this show would be about base stealing; there is some of that here but most of that actually will be in part 2. Though this episode is mostly about baserunning, the little details at the end of the show set up players for success when it's time to steal.)

Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (38:11) about whether establishing concrete rules of thumb would be better than trusting your gut when it comes time to pull a pitcher out of an inning.

In this 47-minute episode, you'll learn:

• how Tyler got a job coaching baseball in college (2:32)
• how Tyler applied base stealing techniques in an environment that didn't promote it (5:54)
• the hop selection drill for infielders (16:34)
• whether youth players can do the hop selection drill (20:17)
• how often to practice base running when youth coaches have limited practice time with the kids (21:33)
• how to gamify drills running from home to 1B (23:35)
• how to handle kids who are inherently slow runners (24:50)
• how to properly round 1B (26:25)
• what age youth players should be taught to peek at the hit when running to 1B (29:06)
• whether question mark turns or banana turns are faster when rounding 1B (30:20)
• the proper way to take a lead at 1B (32:20)
• the disadvantage of a "standard" lead (34:14)
• how to do a secondary lead without getting picked off (35:45)

Sponsor

Driveline Baseball

Driveline Plus is a growing library of everything baseball player development. Members get how-to videos on youth training, discounts on products and inside access to Driveline trainers. Listeners of today's episode get $25 off their first year of Driveline Plus. Tune in to the episode to get the code, just for YBE listeners.

 

Resources and links mentioned in this episode

• Low-attention lead & steal
• Session 27: The Case For Smart Baserunning
• Session 28: The Art Of Smarter Baserunning

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