Proper pickoff avoidance technique

[jbm]

I'm not knowledgable on the proper technique for avoiding pickoffs at first, but watching Willy lately got me wondering:  what is the proper technique for a runner to get back to first.  

Willy's technique looks odd to me.  He never dives and as he goes to touch the outfield side of the bag, he kind of rotates his upper body, leaving his right shoulder very close to the glove hand of the first baseman.  Of course, they got him on the leg last night rather than the shoulder, but his technique looks weird to me.  How are runners properly taught?

Another unrelated question.  I saw Hirsh once in RR, and he induced quite a lot of high pops to the infield, or shallow outfield.  I don't know if that is typical for him, but he did induce a lot of flies last night.  What is behind him inducing so many flies.  Is it as simple as a rising fastball, or does it have something to do with his height and/or trajectory toward the plate?

[jeffrey]

I was always taught to get a big enough lead so that it was necessary to dive back into first base on a pick-off attempt.  Then, when diving, reach for the outfield corner of the bag to avoid the swipe tag and prevent your hand from getting spiked.

[Jacksonian]

Quote:
I'm not knowledgable on the proper technique for avoiding pickoffs at first, but watching Willy lately got me wondering:  what is the proper technique for a runner to get back to first.  

Willy's technique looks odd to me.  He never dives and as he goes to touch the outfield side of the bag, he kind of rotates his upper body, leaving his right shoulder very close to the glove hand of the first baseman.  Of course, they got him on the leg last night rather than the shoulder, but his technique looks weird to me.  How are runners properly taught?

Another unrelated question.  I saw Hirsh once in RR, and he induced quite a lot of high pops to the infield, or shallow outfield.  I don't know if that is typical for him, but he did induce a lot of flies last night.  What is behind him inducing so many flies.  Is it as simple as a rising fastball, or does it have something to do with his height and/or trajectory toward the plate?

RE: Hirsh. When his fastball is up, he gives up a lot of flies. When he'd down esp with the 2-seamer he gets lots of grounders.  I didn't see him throw many or maybe even any 2-seamers yesterday.

[Bench]

Quote:
I was always taught to get a big enough lead so that it was necessary to dive back into first base on a pick-off attempt.  Then, when diving, reach for the outfield corner of the bag to avoid the swipe tag and prevent your hand from getting spiked.

During ST they tried to get Willy to always take a lead big enough that he would always have to dive back to first to avoid the pickoff.

[pravata]

Quote:
I was always taught to get a big enough lead so that it was necessary to dive back into first base on a pick-off attempt.  Then, when diving, reach for the outfield corner of the bag to avoid the swipe tag and prevent your hand from getting spiked.

Right, cross step and dive, which makes the lead off first three steps.  Taveras eschews head first dives at all times.  His move back is two big steps.

[HudsonHawk]

Quote:
I'm not knowledgable on the proper technique for avoiding pickoffs at first, but watching Willy lately got me wondering:  what is the proper technique for a runner to get back to first.  

Willy's technique looks odd to me.  He never dives and as he goes to touch the outfield side of the bag, he kind of rotates his upper body, leaving his right shoulder very close to the glove hand of the first baseman.  Of course, they got him on the leg last night rather than the shoulder, but his technique looks weird to me.  How are runners properly taught?

Another unrelated question.  I saw Hirsh once in RR, and he induced quite a lot of high pops to the infield, or shallow outfield.  I don't know if that is typical for him, but he did induce a lot of flies last night.  What is behind him inducing so many flies.  Is it as simple as a rising fastball, or does it have something to do with his height and/or trajectory toward the plate?

You're tought to get back as quickly as you can.  And pickoffs happen.  I'd be pissed if Willy never got picked off.  That would mean that he's not aggressive enough.

[jeffrey]

Quote:
Right, cross step and dive, which makes the lead off first three steps.  Taveras eschews head first dives at all times.  His move back is two big steps.

Yeah, it's a pretty fluid motion if done properly.  But by going back in upright the way he does, Taveras not only takes too much time/movement, he also makes it so that any throw from the pitcher (high or low) is able to be quickly applied as a tag by the first-basemen.  In any case, though, like HH said - you want Willy to be agressive.

[EasTexAstro]

Quote:

Quote:
Right, cross step and dive, which makes the lead off first three steps.  Taveras eschews head first dives at all times.  His move back is two big steps.

Yeah, it's a pretty fluid motion if done properly.  But by going back in upright the way he does, Taveras not only takes too much time/movement, he also makes it so that any throw from the pitcher (high or low) is able to be quickly applied as a tag by the first-basemen.  In any case, though, like HH said - you want Willy to be agressive.

I always thought that Willy's move back to the bag was sort of an intentional/unintentional attempt to interfere with the throw/catch and possibly force an error. He kind of moves into where the catch is supposed to be made and then steps back to the outfield part of the bag in an avoid-the-tag move. I really don't know, but I have noticed it before and figured he knew alot more about what he was doing than I, so that was the rationalization I came up with.