Passing someone’s open guard is one of the essential parts of your Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game. If you can’t pass someone’s open guard, your best case scenario is to land in their closed guard, at which point you’d better have a good arm bar and triangle defense or a foolproof closed guard pass or you’ll be in big trouble.
The baseball slide guard pass, sometimes called the knee slice guard pass or knee slide guard pass, is a tricky pass because if you make a mistake you run the risk of giving your back to your opponent. But if executed well, this pass can have a very high success rate. This is why it’s a part of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu Blue Belt test curriculum.
This video breakdown of the baseball bat slide includes the legendary Xande Ribiero, who is featured heavily in his brother Saulo Ribiero’s famous Jiu Jitsu University book (which should be in every BJJ practitioner’s library). Xande’s video includes two different grip variations and a bunch of little details that will help you execute this guard pass perfectly
Start: Standing, opponent on back playing open guard
Step 1: Step one leg in between opponent’s a deep as possible
Step 2: Get cross-collar grip as deep as possible
Step 3: Post free hand as high and far from opponent’s head as possible
Step 4: Slice knee over opponent’s hip between their elbow and knee while stepping free leg outside
Step 5: Move outside posting hand to opponent’s sleeve and use both hands to push-oull opponent’s arm, straightening it and preventing him from using it to slow your pass
Step 6: Slide knee through until foot is past opponent’s hip and proceed to side control