You’re in your lead at first. A full-size pitcher comes set, holds, looks, and then either goes home or picks. Read his first move and hit GO or BACK. Righties, lefties, slide steps and leg kicks, timed to the hundredth.
Practice: take your lead, then hit GO the instant he goes home or BACK the instant he picks. Ready to be scored? Start the 20-Jump Challenge.
Keyboard: ← or B for back, → or G for go.
Or study each move:
Go on his first move, not his release.
By the time the ball leaves his hand, the catcher already has the edge. Base stealers don’t run on the pitch. They run on the first thing the pitcher’s body does that commits him to the plate. Learn what that move is for a righty and for a lefty, and your jump starts a quarter-second earlier.
A righty has his back to you. If his front knee lifts or his front heel peels and slides toward the plate, he can’t legally throw to first. Go.
Slide step: same read, just lower and quicker. Front heel first means go.
To throw over, he has to lift his back (pivot) heel and spin his hips to first. If the back foot or the hips move first, get back.
Watch his heels and belt buckle, not his head or glove.
A lefty faces you and his leg lift looks the same both ways. Wait on the front knee. Once it swings behind the back edge of the rubber, he’s committed home. Go.
Wait on the knee, not the lift. Going on the lift is a guess.
If the knee stays in front of the rubber and his stride lands toward first (the 45° line), it’s a pickoff. Get back.
Ignore his eyes. Lefties look home and throw over on purpose.
Pitcher time to plate + catcher pop time vs your time to second.
If your time is shorter, you’re safe. Your jump is the only part of that equation you control, and every tenth you win on the read comes straight off your time.
| Piece | Quick | Average | Slow (run on him) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher to plate | 1.2s or less | 1.3–1.4s | 1.5s+ |
| Catcher pop time | 1.9s or less | 2.0–2.1s | 2.2s+ |
| Your jump (this tool) | .30s or less | .40s | .55s+ |
Typical high school and college ranges for reference. Time your own battery with a stopwatch: first move to the catcher’s glove, then glove to the tag.
Shuffle out to a lead you can get back from with one dive against his best move. Know your number in steps and own it. A lead that changes is a lead the pitcher can read.
Feet a little wider than your shoulders, weight on the balls of your feet, hands loose. Be balanced, not leaning. A runner leaning toward second can’t get back.
Against a righty, eyes on his heels and front knee. Against a lefty, eyes on his front knee and the back of the rubber. Not his face, not his glove.
On the read, open the right foot, drive the left foot across low and hard, and get your eyes to second. Stay low for the first three steps. No false step back toward first.
The read gives you permission. Once you’ve made it, go all the way. Half a jump is how you get thrown out by a step.
A pitcher works from the stretch with a runner at first and no catcher. Runner calls “go” or “back” on the first move without running. Then add the break.
Two runners in leads, coach as the pitcher. On the first move home, both go three hard steps. On a move to first, both dive back. Loser does it again.
Stopwatch the pitcher’s time to plate in practice and in games. Anything 1.5s or slower, you run. Write it down for every pitcher you face.
Pull video of the pitchers you’ll see. Find each one’s tell: the back heel, a head pattern, a set time he repeats. Then come back here and get your jump time down.
Run on the pitcher’s first move to the plate, not on his release. Against a righty that’s the front knee or front heel. Against a lefty it’s the front knee breaking the back of the rubber.
Watch his back heel. A righty has to lift his pivot foot and spin his hips to throw to first. If the back foot moves first, get back.
Wait on his front knee. If it swings behind the back edge of the rubber, he has to go home. If it stays in front and his stride goes toward first, it’s a pickoff. Ignore where he’s looking.
In this tool, .30 seconds or less off the first move is elite, .40 is good, and anything over .55 usually gets you thrown out against a decent battery.
Twenty leads, half righties and half lefties. An elite jump (.30s or less) is +5, good +4, average +2 and late 0. Getting back on a pickoff is +3 if quick, +2 otherwise. Freezing on a pitch home is -2, no jump -1, guessing -3 and getting picked off -5. Your points become a 0–100 Jump Score that counts in the Hitter Combine.
Yes. It runs in your phone or computer browser with no app and no sign-up.
