When To Give The Green Light

Comment

Comment by Bill Stanton on July 23, 2009 at 11:08pm

I'm heading back to NYC after the Cape Cod League All Star game at Fenway and watching the Yanks-A's on MLB.tv.
A's are up 3-0, bottom 4th. Mark Teixeira is up, 3-0 count, he is given the Green Light and hits a 2 run HR to right.
The game has now changed.......

Comment by Coach Ruben Corral on July 7, 2009 at 12:45pm

2009 Division I CIF Championship game held at Angel Stadium this year. Coach Bob Zamora gives Tyler Matzek (#11 pick in this years MLB draft) a green light on a 3-0 count in the bottom of the 6th inning. Matzek hit a bomb into the right field seats and won the game and championship 1-0.

"A walk is as good as a hit" depends on whether you have RBI men batting behind you. One of my biggest factors is whether or not the lineup behind my batter has been successful that game at making solid contact. With runners on base, if there's 2 outs or the next two hitters in the lineup have been struggling all game, then its worth it to me to give the "grip n' rip" sign.

Remember, the subtleties and nuances of the game will figure into your decision making. In the chess game of baseball, its very important to view the gray area as well as the black & white when it comes to a decision such as this. Consider all factors.

In my opinion, Brandon Phillips should have never ignored his coach. As I tell my players, "do your job! If you do your job and you fail...its MY ASS. If you ignore me, and do your own thing...its YOUR ASS!" More often than not, players don't always know the coach's reasons behind their decisions, but sometimes its not their job to know. In the habit of teaching baseball, I've always tried to teach my players my thought process so that they may understand it later on down the road.

Hope this helps,

Coach Corral
TeachingBetterBaseball.com

Comment by Jon Crouch on June 29, 2009 at 12:51pm

Only if you are down runs in last 2 innings to advance runners only. If no one is on base, you have to take the pitch. It like we have been told since we where in little league " A walk is as good as a hit"

Comment by Kyle Grucci on June 29, 2009 at 11:13am

As with everything, it really depends on the situation - score, inning, runners on, has the pitcher walked the previous batters, etc.

Comment by Bill Stanton on June 26, 2009 at 10:59pm

Andy- Nice blog. This is an interesting topic. First, Brandon Phillips was wrong to do what he did, but I like the green light on 3-0 for the most part.

In this instance, I like the hitter to shrink the strike zone and look for a fastball in a specific location. The hitter has to zone in and for example- look for a pitch middle in. It's then up to the hitter to have the discipline to stick to his plan.

The hitter is gonna receive a good pitch to hit and if he's zoned in, I like to give him a shot from time to time to hit 3-0. It's a great confidence boost for the hitter as well. At times, it's not a bad idea to give a struggling hitter a shot to hack 3-0. This gives the hitter a good pitch to hit and the confidence boost from this successful at bat can spark a nice hitting streak.