Stealing Home

One of the most exciting plays in baseball is the straight steal of home.  But certain conditions must be in place in order for an attempt to be successful.

• The runner at third base must be relatively fast.
• The pitcher must be throwing from a full wind-up position.
• The pitcher must not be paying close attention to the runner on third (i.e. checking the runner on every pitch). In other words, he doesn’t “check” the runner on every pitch.
• The pitcher must have a relatively slow delivery to the plate.
• The runner (and all of the players in the dugout) should have a good feel for the pitcher's delivery timing.

For obvious safety reasons, it's vitally important that the batter know when the runner is going to steal home. Usually this is done be giving the batter a "take" sign.

There are two primary keys to success:

• First is the runner's lead off third base. The runner's lead should be a nearly one-third of the way home or about 20-30 feet (for 90 ft base paths).  This distance is no man’s land, and the pitcher can see the runner peripherally. If the runner gets here and the pitcher has not pitched yet, he should just take off. Quite often the pitcher will balk.
• The second key is that the runner take off the instant the pitcher starts the windup.  This is a difficult play, at best, and every fraction of a second counts!

Stealing home generally takes two pitches to set up. On the first pitch, the runner checks the pitcher's timing one last time. The runner should take a normal primary lead and secondary lead and crow-hop as the ball reaches the plate, then turn and move back towards third. But instead of going all of the way back, he should stop and walk to his normal primary lead spot, but this time he should continue walking to no man's land prepared for the steal.  The runner should then dash for home, sliding feet first towards the inside part of the plate.