I posed this as a comment on another page and thought I'd copy/paste it here as well.
One related point regarding teaching cuts/relays that I heard earlier this year at ABCA Nashville and liked was the concept of rules related to the lead base. We've all probably heard about lead base before, it's basically 1 base ahead of the base runner. So if there's a runner on 1B, the lead base is 3B. If there's a runner on 2B, the lead base is home plate. If there are no runners on, the lead base is 2B. The common problem teams and OFs run into is this - let's say runner on 1B, ball hit to the OF and he/she decides to go lead base (3B) when there is no chance of getting the lead runner out. Relay goes to 3B and batter-runner takes 2B. Now, instead of keeping the DP in order and the batter-runner at 1B, you've got 2 runners in scoring position @ 2B and @ 3B. Matt Bragga at Tennessee Tech covered a rule-based system for preventing this situation. The idea is this - the OF makes a decision about what base to throw to based upon where the ball takes him/her. If the base hit takes him towards the lead base, he throws to lead base. So, for example, with a runner on 1B, if the ball is hit to the CF's right side and in front of him (i.e., towards lead base), he/she should throw towards 3B. If the ball is hit and takes the CF away from lead base, he should throw into 2B to keep the batter-runner at 1B thus keeping the double-play in order. So any ball to the CF's left unless it's a rocket to him, should go into 2B. Give up 3B to the base-runner & keep the DP in order. Same rules apply to all the other outfielders in all situations. If it's your RF with a runner on 2B, if the ball takes the RF towards home plate (lead base), relay should go into home plate. If ball takes the RF to his left or right (not towards home plate), relay should go into 2B. Also, if the OF bobbles the ball at any time, even if the ball is taking him towards lead base, he should throw into 2B. A quick video of Matt's presentation is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?... I think this also includes some video but no audio.
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