YBE 163: How To Properly Coach Third Base with Toby Gardenhire

While the majority of 1B coaches in youth baseball tend to be spectators rather than coaches, 3B coaches in youth baseball also tend to not fulfill their responsibilities well and/or not know all their responsibilities. Toby Gardenhire, manager of the St. Paul Saints, is back to break it all down for us again in Part 2 of a two-part interview.

Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (24:04) about what age is appropriate for kids to focus on 1-3 positions.

In this 34-minute episode, you'll learn:

• what is the number one job of a third base coach (3:01)
• a checklist for the third base coach to go through before each play (3:22)
• what considerations a third base coach needs to take (4:12)
• Toby's philosophy for coaching 2B runners whether to tag up on fly balls (4:33)
• whether a tagging up philosophy is team-wide or game-by-game (6:34)
• the importance of practicing all these situations (7:34)
• whether the third base coach should help runners with their leads at 2B or whether the runner should self-govern (7:56)
• when to hold the runner vs send the runner on hits to the outfield (9:01)
• whether third-base coach decision-making differs depending on where the ball is hit into the outfield (10:08)
• whether anything changes with a runner on 2B (11:04)
• whether the first base coach is observing pitch sequencing, catcher/infield arm strength, etc (11:56)
• what to do on a double into the LF corner (12:26)
• what factors to consider whether to send a runner home (13:07)
• whether the 3B coach reminds 2B runners of details (14:37)
• how to decide whether to send a runner home on a wild pitch or passed ball (15:13)
• the importance of choosing specific terminology (16:08)
• what to do in sacrifice fly situations (17:19)
• whether coaches are required to stay in the coach's box (19:55)
• about the issue of 3B coaches being spectators on certain plays rather than coaches (20:29)

Resources and links mentioned in this episode

• 1B Coach talking to runner
https://youtube.com/shorts/4hKpd28xGVw?feature=share
• YBE Practice Plan membership open again
• Subscribe to YBE email newsletter
• Subscribe to the YBE YouTube channel

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