BVSA Teaches: Tagging at 2nd Base

On this episode of BVSA Teaches, Frank Ramppen talks about tagging at 2nd base. Another point on the baserunning: When hitting a base hit to the outfield and rounding the base, you need to be aggressive and force the outfielder to stop. The distance you run before breaking down depends on where the ball is hit. If the ball is hit to right field, I make a hard turn with my right foot inside the bag. If it’s hit to left field, I break down a little shorter. The farther away the ball is hit, the more aggressive you should be with your turn before breaking it down. This is important because if the outfielder bobbles the ball, you can take the extra base easily.

In another scenario, when you’re on second base with nobody out and there’s a fly ball to the outfield, you need to be tagging. If you go halfway and the outfielder catches the ball, you have to go back to second. This puts your team in a bad position with one out and a runner on second. But if you tag up, you can get to third base, and now it’s first and third with nobody out. The setup for tagging will be different depending on where the ball is hit. For example, for a long fly ball to right field, you should hug the base like you’re in a stolen base position.