Reese Kaplan -- Remembering All There Is To Learn About Playing

Following up on the column written yesterday about the new Malaysian children's interest in baseball, it got me thinking about the issues everyone faces while trying to master this seemingly simple game. As difficult as fielding, running and throwing are in the context of the outcome of the final score, nothing can possibly engender as much absolute terror as the first time you face a live fastball.

Think back to your neighborhood contests or more formal Little League games and try to remember what it felt like to stand there in the batter's box for the first time. What seems so natural -- swinging a long wooden stick to whack a small leather covered ball -- did not prepare you for the first time you got hit by a pitch. Now in the realm of say 8-year-olds playing the game, the pain inflicted by that HBP isn't going to cause any long term recovery requirements, the fact is that the very act of being plunked by an errant delivery can wreak havoc on your desire to lean into the pitch.

Naturally, the longer you play the game, the better the skills become by the opposing players including those folks who take the mound to attempt preventing batters from becoming baserunners. The older the pitchers get and the more muscular they become, they will correspondingly delivery pitches at a much higher velocity. While pre-teens are not likely to invoke images of Nolan Ryan in his prime, the fact is that a teenager's uncontrolled pitch that nails you in the leg, torso, arm or head is certainly going to hurt a whole lot more than HBPs hurled by younger and less strong players when you first started out.

Challenging yourself to face wild throwers not knowing when the misdirected pitch is going to come way too close for comfort takes quite a lot of mental discipline to overtake the fear of pain and injury that could cause you to plant yourself less solidly and swing less productively while standing in front of the catcher and the umpire.

When a batter starts succumbing to the tendency to fear pain more than being determined to help score runs, a lot of bad things begin to happen. Some batters stand way too far outside the box to be able to handle anything thrown on the outer part of the plate with any authority. Some keep the bat frozen on their shoulders as the very act of swinging puts you into a more vulnerable position that could result in time with medical personnel. Others begin swinging in an overly aggressive manner in the hope that they can attack the incoming pitches even when they are not in a prime location to place the bat on them solidly. Finally, there are the nibblers who give up trying to hit line drives and fly balls, instead content to do check swings and bunts for infield hits as they feel they protect themselves more by not going into the whole batting motion.

Fielding is another type of challenge for newcomers. There is the issue of trying to understand how fly balls travel and whether to run in or back and at what speed. Learning to jump against the fence without fearing injury, or diving for balls in front without worry how it appears or how far the ball might travel if not field cleanly.

Infielders are likely much more concerned with figuring out how a batted ball moves, the bounces it takes, the unpredictability of obstacles on the field altering its course, and knowing which fielder should take ownership on corralling the leather sphere headed between two of them.

Understanding how to throw a ball (and where to throw it) is another common challenge for people learning the game. While a person watching the game might think that it's obvious where to direct a throw and how hard to throw it, there are other variables at play as well. What about faking a throw and then whirling to work for the out at another base? How about holding onto a ball and not throwing when the probability of nailing the runner is so slim that it's not worth the risk in making an unnecessary and hurried toss across the diamond? Outfielders have the additional risk in their decisions about when to throw ahead of a runner, when it's smart to throw behind a runner to nail someone trying to advance or when the ball is best handled by the cutoff man.

Baserunning is about a lot more than sheer speed. The major leagues have embraced a number of purely rocket-like runners such as the Oakland A's flirtation with world class sprinter Herb Washington in their 1974 World Series year as a designated runner. Then, of course, there were quick but studious runners who could steal with aplomb and take extra bases by challenging the often errant throwing arms of outfielders. Knowing when to run and when to stay put is something newcomers to the game will not know without a lot of coaching which could prove to be more valuable than actual running ability.

Nowadays the preparation for playing ball is more about preventing injury and stretching muscles properly than it is about hours in front of a pitching machine or multiple long sessions per week firming up on fielding, throwing and running fundamentals. Hopefully my young Malaysian students are willing to do what it takes first to learn the game. That aspect to me is far more important than their individual skill proficiency. It would take a full league and season's worth of games to begin to measure performance.