Girls Softball Drills Catchers Catcher's success rate on throwing out runners attempting the steal at 2nd base

[Admin]

Catcher's success rate on throwing out runners attempting the steal at 2nd base

Looking for stats or average on successful throw down from the catcher to 2nd base. On the base runner attempting to steal 2nd base.

I'm sure the average goes up as the girls get older. And I'm also sure the strength of your catcher plays a big role at catching the runners stealing 2nd.

So what are the averages your seeing by your catcher's on throwing at the runner's? Lets break it down by age groups.

Here my guess and its only a guess. How does these number stack up with the numbers your seeing from you catchers on your girls Fastpitch softball team.

1.) 8 under girl softball catchers 0%-5%

2.) 10 under girl softball catchers 10%-15%

3.) 12 under girl softball catchers 20%-25%

4.) 14 under girl softball catchers 30%-40%

5.) 16 under girl softball catchers 35%-45%

6.) 18 under girl softball catchers 45%-60%

7.) Catchers at the College level 50%-65%

If any one has the success rate average on girls softball catchers throwing out the attempted steal at 3rd base please share them numbers/stats with the forum.

 

[coachjwb]

Ricky ... I think your percentages on #5, 6, and 7 are too high, and #4 may be as well. The reason is that most coaches will generally not send runners unless they think the chances of making it are say 80% or more. So there are a lot less stolen bases attempted at the higher age levels. I just looked at a couple of college teams' stats both at the D1 and D3 level, both for them and their opponents, and it looks like the success rate for runners is around 70-80%, which obviously means the catchers are only throwing out 20-30%. Joe will surely weigh in on this one as well, but I would say if your success rate of running is over 80% you're probably not running enough, and if it's under 70% you're probably running too much ... so the catcher % is somewhat dictated by the offensive strategy.

 

[ApogeeDemon]

These stats are from a few years ago. Enjoy.

Conference	Games	Steals/attempts	Steal %
Big 10	All 2008 Games	(528-678)	78% safe
	Conference Games	(117-168)	70% safe
SEC	All 2008 Games	(851-1022)	83% safe
	Conference Games	(249-311)	80% safe

 

[JoeA1010]

Yep, I have noticed my teams are usually around 77 percent safe and we run a lot. The figure would likely be higher if we ran less and only with the faster players. But with a 77 percent rate, giving up an out by sac bunting usually doesn't make sense.

 

[Admin]

But with a 77 percent rate, giving up an out by sac bunting usually doesn't make sense.

Joe, could this be one of the reasons, we don't see Coaching using the sac bunt as much to advance the base runner's?

 

[ApogeeDemon]

Joe, could this be one of the reasons, we don't see Coaching using the sac bunt as much to advance the base runner's?

There are many factors. One being that you have 21 outs. Are you willing to give a few away on sac bunts. How dominant is your pitcher? Can she hold the other team with only a one run lead? Does your runner not only have speed but does she get a good jump? What inning is it? Does third baseman look rattled? Constantly assess EVERYTHING. What is the count on the batter? Is the catcher is a ready position? Sometimes you can catch them down because she doesn't think youll steal. At the college level, the best runners beat the best catchers. But the best catchers beat the good runners.

 

[wow]

The catcher is only 1/2 the battle you still need a fast shortstop who can make a catch and put the tag on. There are a number of factors but it's like well oiled machine. That's why base running is so important in fastpitch! A fast kid will most likely be safe, from 1-2 90% of the time.. Now this percentage goes down with a elite catcher /SS combo.

 

[mike_dyer]

Now this percentage goes down with a elite catcher /SS combo.

The wise thing to do as a college coach then would be to find a good 9u catcher/SS combo and figure out if they done verbalt. If they ain't done verbalt you need to make sure that by the time you're done talking to them that they have verbalt.

 

[ApogeeDemon]

The wise thing to do as a college coach then would be to find a good 9u catcher/SS combo and figure out if they done verbalt. If they ain't done verbalt you need to make sure that by the time you're done talking to them that they have verbalt.

that made me laugh!

 

[JoeA1010]

Ricky,

Perhaps, but I think the main reason is that games are higher scoring for the last ten years or so. The higher scoring the game, the less sense it makes to sac bunt because a sac bunt means you are playing for one run. If the average game was 25-24, you would never give up one of your 21 outs to move a runner up 60 feet. As games went from 2-1 to 5-4, the less sense it made to give up outs.

Also, I may be imagining this, but it seems to me the sac bunt is used more by coaches who have been around since the 80s and 90s or by coaches who played for those coaches. Don't get me wrong, I am not totally anti-sac bunt, but I do think it is overused, particularly at higher levels when the defense almost always records an out.

 

[CARDS]

The catcher is only 1/2 the battle you still need a fast shortstop who can make a catch and put the tag on. There are a number of factors but it's like well oiled machine. That's why base running is so important in fastpitch! A fast kid will most likely be safe, from 1-2 90% of the time.. Now this percentage goes down with a elite catcher /SS combo.

The SS/C combo is not as important as the pitcher catcher combo. Yes, the SS needs to be able to get good breaks be able to field the throw and put down the tag but if the pitcher is wild, does not throw very hard the chance of success goes down a lot.

In 2013 our HS catcher threw out 50% of the base steal attempts. Now in the 30 games we played we only had like 30 attempts but because the pitcher threw in the mid to upper 60s with good control we had success with a converted second baseman at SS and a catcher with a bad shoulder.