TAG PLAY AT HOME PLATE

When it comes to the tag play at home plate, safety has to be our number one focus. Getting the out is obviously important, but if we record that out in a way that puts our body in an extremely vulnerable position, at some point, it will backfire and lead to a potentially serious injury. Remember, catchers, we are no good to our team on the bench hurt.

The first step in learning how to approach this play is to understand where and how to set our body up for the play. While we may need to leave our original position, we must establish a setup on the field that gives us the best chance of getting the out and keeping our body intact.

FEET PLACEMENT:

We want to set our feet so that our left foot is about a foot to two feet up the foul line and about four inches inside the foul line. Setting our left foot this way not only forces the runner to the outside/back half of home plate, but it also helps keep us safe from injury or an obstruction call. While there will be contact during this play, we want to position ourselves in a way that allows us to deflect as much of that contact away from our body as possible.

We want the toes on our left foot pointed towards third base to ensure that if there is contact, it will force the foot backward and the leg to bend at the knee joint as it is supposed to. If the left foot is turned open or closed away from third base, we risk severe injury to our knee if any contact with that foot occurs.

Once our feet are set, we want to give our outfielder or cutoff infielder a big target to throw to. We raise our hands above our head to indicate that we're ready for the throw. We can turn our chest toward whatever part of the field the ball is being thrown from, but the feet stay where they started unless the throw requires us to adjust our body positioning to make the catch and tag.

THE CATCH AND TAG:

We're going to split this section of the tag up into three different approaches, all of which depend on how the runner comes into home plate.

STANDING:

The first approach is for when the runner does not slide at all and comes into home plate standing. One of the biggest mistakes I see catchers make is bringing their body to the ground to make a tag on a runner who didn't slide. This puts the catcher in an incredibly vulnerable position, anchored to the ground, with a runner who is going to run right over them.

Instead, we're going to wait for the runner to commit to sliding before heading to the ground for the tag. If they don't slide, we stay up on our feet.

We're going to position ourselves as described above, inside the foul line, and prepare for the throw. Ideally, we would like to secure the ball with two hands. Depending on how close the play is, that may not be feasible. Sometimes we're going to have to make a quick tag one-handed with just the ball in our glove.

All other times, we want to make sure we have full control of the ball inside our mitt with our throwing hand. We'll make the tag two-handed with the ball tightly wrapped inside all five fingers of our throwing hand, and that hand tucked inside our glove.

Once we've secured the ball, we're going to start turning into the tag. Our goal is always going to be to stay to the side of the runner and make the tag on the side of their body to avoid as much contact as possible. We'll use the momentum of that tag to spin back towards the infield and look for another out. Teams will give us opportunities for extra outs throughout the game, and this play is one of the situations that can lead to one of them. It's not hard to spot a runner paying too much attention to the play at the plate and not enough to the infielders sneaking in behind them to receive our throw.

DIRECT SLIDE:

The second approach to a tag will apply when the runner slides and takes a direct route into home plate. Once the runner commits to sliding, we can start heading to the ground to make the tag.

We're going to keep our chest upright and drive our back knee to the ground. We want to keep the front knee up off the ground to give us the freedom to make an adjustment if the runner's path to the plate changes. It also helps keep our body under control through the tag.

Once we've secured the ball and driven our back knee to the ground, we can begin making the tag to the side of the runner. Our goal should be to deflect the force of the runner away from us with our tag. Catchers shouldn't try to hurt anyone during this play but need to be aggressive with the tag to ensure the out and protect themselves.

After the tag has been applied, catchers must get confirmation from the umpire that the play is over. Whether they've called the runner out or safe, it's our job to make sure the play is over before looking for another one. I routinely see catchers abandon the play at home plate far too early because they assumed they made the tag or that the runner scored. Sometimes neither is the case, and if we haven't heard anything from the umpire, it's our responsibility to track down the runner and make another attempt at the tag.

One important thing to note here is that the runner always has to come to us. Catchers shouldn't go chasing after runners if they slide past home plate. If we leave home plate, we give the runner a chance to get by us and score. Obviously, there's only so much a runner can do before they'll be called out for being out of the base path, but that is a judgment call for an umpire and not one that is guaranteed to be made.

WIDE SLIDE:

One way that runners will attempt to avoid the tag and still score is to take a wider angle into home plate. From our perspective, the catcher may see a wider turn around third base, or the runner veering towards the back corner of the plate. This can make staying inside the foul line difficult and might require us to cross the line to make the tag.

First, we must be in possession of the ball and attempt to make the tag before crossing this line. Otherwise, we risk being called for blocking the plate. Second, we should never dive across the foul line to make this tag.

For those of you who have been to one of our events in the last ten years, you've heard the cautionary tale we tell when talking about this play to our camp students. A story about how a 15-year-old student of ours was playing in a tournament one summer and suffered an unimaginable injury. It was a tie game in the seventh inning of the first game of this tournament, and there was a play at home plate to prevent the winning run from scoring. The throw from the outfield pulled this young catcher away from the foul line a bit, and they attempted to shuffle back to make the play, but they were late. The run scored, and this student's team lost the first game.

The catcher started hearing their own coach berating them from the dugout. This coach told them that they were a disappointment to their team and that they had let down their coaches, their family, and their friends. Completely distraught, this catcher vowed to never let that happen again. So, later on in the tournament, when the exact same play occurred, this catcher caught the ball and dove headfirst across the foul line to make the tag. Unfortunately, being a bang-bang play, the catcher's neck was met with the metal spikes of the sliding runner and ended up with a severe laceration of his throat.

I don't ever want to get the phone call that I received that day from this student's parents informing me that their child was fighting for their life because some absolute moron of a coach had it in their head that wins and losses at the fifteen-year-old level mean more than their players' safety. To be clear, they don't.

Winning is certainly more fun, losing stinks... I get it. But none of it matters if athletes are putting themselves in extremely dangerous situations simply to give themselves a slightly better chance at a single out.

Although it will be slightly less effective, there is a significantly safer way of going about this play. Remember, no catcher is any good to their team hurt.

As we are headed towards the ground, and our back knee starts driving down, we may realize that the path the runner has taken to home plate would prevent us from reaching them where we are set up. In this moment, we can start to let the front knee drive forward and to the ground as well.

We want to make sure these movements are made as fluidly as possible, giving us the ability to use our momentum to deflect contact away from us during the tag.

Once we've applied the tag and gotten confirmation that the umpire has made their call, we'll use that same momentum to spin with the tag, pull ourselves off the ground, and look for another out if there were other runners on base.

Catchers should be confident in their call for the ball and never second-guess themselves. If a catcher thinks they have a play at the plate, they shouldn't hesitate to make that call. They should loudly and concisely yell, "Four, Four, Four!" to let their teammates know that they want the ball to come home. If they hesitate or mumble, it will lead to confusion among the other fielders, and there is significantly less chance of recording an out anywhere.

FINAL THOUGHTS - TAG PLAY AT HOME PLATE:

As fast as this play happens, it can be tricky to know which approach to use and when. Awareness is so important as a catcher, as is being prepared for every play before the pitch is ever thrown. Catchers must have their head on a swivel and be able to make split-second adjustments to not only get the out but also keep themselves safe.

On the topic of safety during this play, it is so important to go over where the mask should go during this play. It's simple, really... it stays on the head! In some of the video examples of body positioning and technique above, you may see the mask come off. This is NOT what should happen. There is absolutely no argument that makes taking the mask off make any sense at all.

In fact, I've actually gotten into an argument with a Major League manager (unnamed for the time being) who has managed in a World Series about this particular issue.

A while back, I was presenting at a National baseball and softball coaches' convention about this play, and after I finished, this gentleman walked up to me to discuss his feelings about what I spoke about. His comment? "The mask has to come off. The mask gets in the way of a catcher being able to see the high throw coming in from the outfield."

My response? "Interesting opinion, but I was under the impression that my neck still worked." The only thing a catcher ever needs to do to be able to track the ball in from the release of their outfielder's hand to their glove is to simply LOOK UP! It is that simple.

Masks these days are not nearly as cumbersome as they were in the past, and they are designed to give catchers a clear sight of everything that is going on in front of them. There is no reason to take it off, but there are plenty of reasons to keep it on. For one, contact is almost a guarantee during a tag play at home plate. We want to avoid any of that contact occurring on our face. Leaving the mask on helps keep us safe.

Another reason to keep it on would be to avoid an obstruction call. Regardless of whether the catcher tags the runner before they score, if they flip the mask off over their head and it ends up in the way of the runner's slide, the runner is safe.

Again, we can see the ball just fine. All we have to do is move our head to find the ball. Leave the mask on!