Leading A Last-Place Baseball Team to Success
How to Turn a Miserable Season into a Championship Season
Oct 24, 2009
So you're looking at the standings and your team is either dead last or, part of the miserable basement dwellers at the bottom of the pack. Is it time to give up on your team and the season, or can you turn this dismal predicament into something magical?
Maybe it's time to evaluate how you got to this situation to begin with, and then figure out the ways to improve and turn this around quick and easy.
Baseball is a game of strategy and intelligence, so this might be where your team is going wrong.
Let's face it, this team is downright awful.
The starting pitching can't keep batters off the bases, and they're giving up runs like it's going out of style. When your team is somewhat in the game, your relievers are blowing it, and not to mention your batters are not producing, and are in horrible slumps at the worst times.
What can a manager do in this situation?
How to Turn A Losing Baseball Season into a Winning Season
Start with the pitching problems. First things first, your rotation is fine. You have great talent and strong arms, but maybe their confidence just isn't there because they're getting roughed up in every outing or are being pulled early in ball games. Well that's about to change.
In a situation where your starter is facing a hot hitter, or one of the best hitters in the league, do NOT intentionally walk this batter. Don't let the batter intimidate your starter.
Intentional Walks Don't Solve Problems
When you and your starter are on the bench prior to facing this monster of a batter, talk to him or her. Let them know this batter is just a normal player.
It is your job as a manager to get this pitcher's confidence up. Talk about a pitch sequence between both your catcher and pitcher that would benefit the pitcher.
Keep the ball down with sliders, or inside with cutters. Don't let the ball hang over the plate.
Batter kryptonite comes in the form of anything that jams them inside, and pitches down and away. It is important to let your pitcher pitch to this batter or batters to boost their confidence because he or she will need it in big games. Remember an intentional walk is a potential run.
Even if your pitcher lets the batter get away from them, or the batter gets a big hit, at least the pitcher went toe-to-toe with the giant. Eventually, the pitcher will learn what this batter can hit, and tweak the pitch sequence the next time out.
Keep Your Pitchers in the Game
Do you think big league pitchers like CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay or Johan Santana would be as dominant as they are if they got pulled from no outs, bases loaded situations?
Let your pitcher stay in the game. Have confidence in him or her. They have to learn to control a game, and not let the game control them.
Pitching With Base Runners
Try pitch-outs to catch base runners out of position. The more you allow your pitcher to throw to the bases, the easier it is for the runners to notice a pitcher or team's unease. Limit the throws to the bases by your pitcher because it will give the base runners the thought of swiping a base.
If the pitch-out doesn't work, keep the sequence of pitches to stuff low and in. This type of pitch is more prone to get the batter to ground out and your defense to turn a double play, or at least get the lead runner.
Turning Mediocre Batters into Hitting Machines
Slumps are a natural and normal part of baseball. All the big leaguers go through it. Manny, Howard, Pujols, A-Rod, they've all been in big slumps, but with the help from their managers and coaches they turned their slumps into slams.
The key to breaking slumps is batting practice and, again, confidence. Once a batter starts slumping, it gets hard to break out due to a lack of confidence.
Most players on teams can easily forget that baseball is a game and they should be out there having fun. Bring some softballs or even beach balls to practice and use those on the slumping batters. It sounds a tad silly, but, it's actually quite fun.
Situational Hitting Wins Championships
A major problem with slumping hitters, and slumping teams is due to their issues at the plate. Your batters are not to blame. When your hitter is due up, their first instinct is to pound the ball, or smash the ball deep for a homerun, however, it is the job of the manager to correct that thought and teach the batters about situational hitting.
Try this. If you have a lead-off runner on first base and your big hitter is up, make him take pitches, or bunt to advance the runner. No opponent will see this coming. Baseball is about advancing the runners to score runs, remember? Surprise your opponent.
Keep your runners alert when the ball is popped-up. Get them to stay close to the base in case he or she needs to tag up. Most runners these days stand somewhere in-between the bases and wait to see what happens with the ball. This is not good base running.
In batting practice, get your team to actually listen to the sounds of the ball coming off the bat to get familiar with what would be a pop-up compared to a deep drive or a homerun.
This will prevent your team from running wildly around the bases and getting caught misreading a play.
Another key is avoiding the double play. Watch the pitches being thrown. Make sure your runners have a comfortable and safe lead from the base, and keep them alert and aware that they should be running on any ground ball.
Break up the throw from second to first by getting your runner to throw their arms up in the air. This will assist in breaking the throwers concentration and could lead to either the ball being thrown away, or, no throw at all thus, keeping the inning alive.
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