Bit Players, and Scene Stealers

Courtesy Runners Add Intrigue to High School Baseball

"When you step on that bag, you have the pitcher," says Lake Braddock courtesy runner Johnny Arnold. "If he's focusing all his attention on you, then he can't focus on the batter, and that helps your team out even more." (Rich Lipski - The Post)

With the bases loaded, the infield drawn in and the score tied in extra innings, Centreville sophomore Mickey Bozek broke from third on a slow roller to the Robinson pitcher. As Bozek slid into home, the ball glanced off the catcher's chest protector, eliciting a "Safe!" call from the umpire and a parade of grinning Wildcats from the dugout.

Their congratulatory slaps to the batting helmet must have sounded like a postgame fireworks display to the guy underneath it, because for courtesy runner Bozek and others like him, scoring the winning run is akin to a position player blasting a game-ending homer.

"All the jumping around by home plate -- that's when you feel like you're part of the game," Bozek said. "You're not just going out there and running for people."

Bozek, an outfielder-pitcher biding his time behind older Wildcats, batted once this season and played one inning in the outfield. But he was plenty busy as the team's primary courtesy runner, a player who specializes in running the bases as a substitute when his team's catcher or pitcher reaches base.

The initial intent of high school courtesy runners was to speed up the game by allowing the pitcher, free from base running duty, to return to the dugout and take the mound as soon as that half-inning ends, or to give the catcher time to put his gear back on before the next team comes to bat.

But that's not the only tempo change that courtesy runners provide. Stealing a base, moving up on a wild pitch or scoring from first on a ball hit to the gap could make the difference between a win and a loss, and a courtesy runner can provide that edge multiple times during the same game. Unlike a pinch runner, he is allowed to re-enter to run for the same player he ran for originally. And a team is allowed to have two courtesy runners on base if the pitcher and catcher get on.

Ron Tugwell, who coached for more than 25 years at West Springfield, beginning in the mid-1970s, recalls courtesy runners initially being used with only two outs. Not any more.

"It's become an offensive weapon now," said Westfield's Chuck Welch, a coach for more than 20 years in Northern Virginia. "This, to me, is the only free substitution in baseball."

Old Mill Coach Mel Montgomery bumped up senior catcher C.J. Adams into the leadoff spot this season to take advantage of his most reliable contact hitter, and to get junior courtesy runner Naquan Gavin into the game early and often. Gavin scored 15 runs and stole 11 bases in 12 attempts.

"It's like having two guys in one body," Montgomery said.

While at the same time saving wear and tear on the bodies of pitchers and catchers, who can stay fresher.

"A lot of times you're looking for pitchers to go as many innings as possible," said Centreville Coach Jonathan Frohm, whose team was eliminated from the Virginia postseason last week. "If you can take the pressure off them on the base paths, it might give them an extra 10 pitches. That could be the difference between [throwing] five innings and seven innings."