The Defense Thread, 2016

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I just saw this article about the Cardinals, and I immediately thought of the Orioles' infield defense.

The Cardinals have excellent starting pitching. With Jhonny Peralta out for at least until early June, will their infield defense be able to support said pitchers adequately ???

Will the Cardinals Infield Support a Ground Ball-Inducing Pitching Staff?

(By Mark Saxon)

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-cardinals/post/_/id/364/will-the-cardinals-infield-support-a-ground-ball-inducing-pitching-staff

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This is intended to be an Orioles defense-centric thread (in fact, the Orioles' annual defense thread.)

I thought that it would be interesting to start it with an article regarding a situation that another team has in which they are stronger than the Orioles in one area (starting pitching), but perhaps wishing that they had the strength that the Orioles have in another (infield defense.)

Am I the only one concerned that Schoop's 2014 glove work might be an example of small sample size? He wasn't anything special on defense last season and hasn't looked sharp this spring.

Am I the only one concerned that Schoop's 2014 glove work might be an example of small sample size? He wasn't anything special on defense last season and hasn't looked sharp this spring.

His arm is outstanding. Also really good at making swipe tags. I have never been impressed by his range. Overall, average to plus defense.

Am I the only one concerned that Schoop's 2014 glove work might be an example of small sample size? He wasn't anything special on defense last season and hasn't looked sharp this spring.

Has he looked that bad? I haven't watched the games this spring. I see he has one error charged this spring, but obviously that's not a huge deal.

He's getting bigger and stronger, which is good for his offense but could be slowing him defensively.

Has he looked that bad? I haven't watched the games this spring. I see he has one error charged this spring, but obviously that's not a huge deal.

He's getting bigger and stronger, which is good for his offense but could be slowing him defensively.

He's hasn't looked that bad, just he hasn't looked plus either. I'm not writing his defense off, just a bit concerned.

Average defense, low OBP and plus power just isn't as valuable as I was hoping for after 2014.

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(vs. TWINS, 4/04, 4/06, 4/07)

Solid defense overall in a 3-game sweep of the Twins to open the season.

One error overall (Chris Davis) led to one unearned run.

Reimold did pretty well when pushed into action last night because of the injury to Adam Jones.

Am I the only one concerned that Schoop's 2014 glove work might be an example of small sample size? He wasn't anything special on defense last season and hasn't looked sharp this spring.

he look dang good late in game 2 and made a big play by running up, behind over, picking up the ball barehanded and throwing while bent over and barely getting the runner.

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(vs. D-RAYS, 4/08, 4/10)

Solid defense overall in a series that was shortened by one game because of inclement weather.

Wieters did have a catcher's interference call today when Dickerson's bat hit Wieters' glove on the swing. I don't think that it can be assumed that he necessarily would have been out after the groundout was overturned by the interference call, because we don't know how much Wieters' mitt affected Dickerson's swing.

But Wieters also threw out a runner trying to steal 2nd base with one out in the 7th inning ...... at the time, that runner was the potential tying run.

I like seeing the TB defense when Odorizzi boots the Kim ground ball and the LFer boots the Schoop double.

April 10

- Great play by Davis grabbing a hot smash that hooked over the 1B bag on one hop, taking away a sure double.

- Nice play by Hardy on a play deep in the hole, making a strong throw with a quick release to get the batter by an eyelash. Nice stretch by Davis, too.

On the CS, nice slap tag by Schoop on a Wieters throw that was a little high and tailing to the 2B side. The runner was out by inches.

Worth noting: Kim made a throw home trying to nab a runner who was scoring from 2B on a single. It wasn't the strongest throw in the world, but it was on-line and accurate. Better than "noodle armed" in my opinion, even if he wasn't exactly Cespedes.

Orioles catchers have thrown out, what, 3 out of 4 sb attempts?

That's a nice early-season defensive stat.

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April 12

Great diving catch of a screaming liner up the middle by Hardy, who then threw to 1B to double up the runner.

Davis bailed out Schoop and Manny on errant throws, something he's done regularly in the first seven games.

Flaherty gave up on a fly ball down the LF line that looked like it would land in the seats but blew fair.

On the Red Sox side, the key play was Trumbo's foul pop that eluded Swihart. Given new life, Trumbo hit his monster homer to tie the game.

April 12

Great diving catch of a screaming liner up the middle by Hardy, who then threw to 1B to double up the runner.

Davis bailed out Schoop and Manny on errant throws, something he's done regularly in the first seven games.

Flaherty gave up on a fly ball down the LF line that looked like it would land in the seats but blew fair.

On the Red Sox side, the key play was Trumbo's foul pop that eluded Swihart. Given new life, Trumbo hit his monster homer to tie the game.

You knew something magical was going to happen after Swihart missed the pop up and sure enough.

April 13

The play of the game was a 5-4-6 double play as Manny missed a tag on the baserunner going from second to third, but fired to get the runner at second, then Schoop went back to JJ covering third to get the tag on the lead runner.

Here is what Buck had to say:

“I don’t know how many shortstops would have been covering third there on that play, and that’s one of the things analytic people miss,” Showalter said. “I mean, you can’t teach that. That’s anticipation of the game.

“I can’t tell you how unusual that is, to have a shortstop be able to anticipate that play and get to third base, a play you’ll never see again.”

On a soft liner with Bogaerts leaning toward third, JJ caught the ball then flipped quickly to Schoop for a double play.

However, the Sox scored two on a Hanley Ramirez ground ball just out of Manny's reach that turned into a double.