The Defense Thread, 2017

[OFFNY]

o

 

(vs. MARINERS, 8/14)

 

With the Orioles leading by a score of 10-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, Adam Jones caught a fly ball in DEEP centerfield. The Mariners' baserunner tagged up from 1st base to 2nd, and Jones unleashed a MONSTER throw ON THE FLY to 2nd baseman Jonathan Schoop. The throw was off-line a bit, but Schoop stayed with it and (while rolling over on the ground in order to reach the runner) tagged him out after he came off of the bag.

 

Kudos to both Jones and Schoop for this type of effort in a 10-2 game.

 

o

[Frobby]

There were a couple of successive plays last night that show why, apart from errors, Beckham is not a great defensive SS.

With runners on 1st and 2nd, nobody out, the batter hit a two-hopper to Beckham.    He didn't charge the ball at all and was a split-second slow with his feed to Schoop.    Sending this, Schoop didn't even attempt a relay to 1B, instead throwing behind the runner who had advanced to 3B, who got back ahead of the throw.

With runners now at 1st and 3rd and one out, the ball was hit directly to Davis, who pivoted and made a perfect feed throw to Beckham at 2B.    But Beckham didn't move inside the bag after tagging it, and the incoming runner slid into him and (legally) broke up the DP.    Meanwhile, the runner on 3rd came in to score.     

In my opinion, both of those balls were probably DP's if Hardy is playing SS.     At a minimum, the throws would have been made to 1B with a good shot at completing the DP.    There wasn't even a throw to 1B on these plays because of the way Beckham played them.

I do think these are the kinds of things the O's will drill Beckham on next spring.     

[webbrick2010]

59 minutes ago, Frobby said:

There were a couple of successive plays last night that show why, apart from errors, Beckham is not a great defensive SS.

With runners on 1st and 2nd, nobody out, the batter hit a two-hopper to Beckham.    He didn't charge the ball at all and was a split-second slow with his feed to Schoop.    Sending this, Schoop didn't even attempt a relay to 1B, instead throwing behind the runner who had advanced to 3B, who got back ahead of the throw.

With runners now at 1st and 3rd and one out, the ball was hit directly to Davis, who pivoted and made a perfect feed throw to Beckham at 2B.    But Beckham didn't move inside the bag after tagging it, and the incoming runner slid into him and (legally) broke up the DP.    Meanwhile, the runner on 3rd came in to score.     

In my opinion, both of those balls were probably DP's if Hardy is playing SS.     At a minimum, the throws would have been made to 1B with a good shot at completing the DP.    There wasn't even a throw to 1B on these plays because of the way Beckham played them.

I do think these are the kinds of things the O's will drill Beckham on next spring.     

You don't think the Rays "drilled" him on these things?

He is not a ML SS, or at least not on a good team. Probably fit in on the O's who aren't likely to finish above .500 for the foreseeable future.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

You don't think the Rays "drilled" him on these things?

I don't know what things the Rays drilled him on.    These are fairly nuanced details of the game.     Buck is pretty fastidious about noticing things that particular players need to work on.    I don't know if Beckham will be able to improve on his weaknesses at age 28 (next year), but I also don't believe it's a fait accompli that he'll never get any better at the things he's not particularly good at now.   

[webbrick2010]

39 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don't know what things the Rays drilled him on.    These are fairly nuanced details of the game.     Buck is pretty fastidious about noticing things that particular players need to work on.    I don't know if Beckham will be able to improve on his weaknesses at age 28 (next year), but I also don't believe it's a fait accompli that he'll never get any better at the things he's not particularly good at now.   

You are an optimist, I hope he sticks at SS, he seems to enjoy playing and that's a good start.

[Ruzious]

One of the benefits about Beckham is that he's got the tools to play any position other than catcher.  The O's can use him like a super-sub - much like Melvin Mora was before he settled in at 3B.  Zobrist is a classic example, but there have been others - maybe not a lot of other guys like that recently, but they can be very valuable.  So, if the O's do find an opportunity to get a quality SS, they have maneuverability.  Not every team can be like the Nats and have every player they plug in as injury replacements do a great job.  

[Three Run Homer]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

There were a couple of successive plays last night that show why, apart from errors, Beckham is not a great defensive SS.

With runners on 1st and 2nd, nobody out, the batter hit a two-hopper to Beckham.    He didn't charge the ball at all and was a split-second slow with his feed to Schoop.    Sending this, Schoop didn't even attempt a relay to 1B, instead throwing behind the runner who had advanced to 3B, who got back ahead of the throw.

With runners now at 1st and 3rd and one out, the ball was hit directly to Davis, who pivoted and made a perfect feed throw to Beckham at 2B.    But Beckham didn't move inside the bag after tagging it, and the incoming runner slid into him and (legally) broke up the DP.    Meanwhile, the runner on 3rd came in to score.     

In my opinion, both of those balls were probably DP's if Hardy is playing SS.     At a minimum, the throws would have been made to 1B with a good shot at completing the DP.    There wasn't even a throw to 1B on these plays because of the way Beckham played them.

I do think these are the kinds of things the O's will drill Beckham on next spring.     

On the last of these plays, Beckham looked like someone who had never played shortstop before.  At least move over to avoid contact from the sliding baserunner!  

[Cumberbundy]

Hard to watch Bundy get asked to exit this game after Mancini failed to make a play he has to make & Beck couldn't get a throw over in time. I don't know if that was on Beck but Bundy deserved better this afternoon he looked as good as anyone we've faced other than Sale.

[OFFNY]

o

 

(vs. RED SOX, 8/26)

 

With the Orioles leading by a score of 5-0 very early in the game, Tim Beckham made a very tough catch in traffic on a ball that was in fair territory.

The play occurred in an area of Fenway Park in which there is very little room to maneuver, where the wall is almost parallel to the foul line with hardly any room to get a foot of 2 down on the ground into foul territory. With 2 of his teammates right next to him, Beckham made a back-handed snare of the ball, preventing what would have been at least a double from falling in.

So instead of a runner and 2nd or 3rd base and only one out, there was now nobody on base with 2 outs. Gausman retired the Red Sox next batter to end the inning, and continued to stymie them until he was removed from the game with 2 outs in the 8th inning.

 

In my rat's ass of an opinion, that was a potential turning point in the game (or at the very least, a potential momentum-changer in that inning.) What at first appeared to be a routine popup wound up turning into a very tough play. If the ball had fallen in, the home crowd may have started getting into the game, Gausman may have gotten a little rattled, and perhaps the Red Sox may have started chipping into the Orioles' substantial 5-0 lead that they had just built. Thanks to Beckham's nifty play, nothing of that type of scenario ever had a chance to happen.

 

o

[OFFNY]

On 8/26/2017 at 8:34 PM, OFFNY said:

o

 

(vs. RED SOX, 8/26)

 

With the Orioles leading by a score of 5-0 very early in the game, Tim Beckham made a very tough catch in traffic on a ball that was in fair territory.

The play occurred in an area of Fenway Park in which there is very little room to maneuver, where the wall is almost parallel to the foul line with hardly any room to get a foot of 2 down on the ground into foul territory. With 2 of his teammates right next to him, Beckham made a back-handed snare of the ball, preventing what would have been at least a double from falling in.

So instead of a runner and 2nd or 3rd base and only one out, there was now nobody on base with 2 outs. Gausman retired the Red Sox next batter to end the inning, and continued to stymie them until he was removed from the game with 2 outs in the 8th inning.

 

In my rat's ass of an opinion, that was a potential turning point in the game (or at the very least, a potential momentum-changer in that inning.) What at first appeared to be a routine popup wound up turning into a very tough play. If the ball had fallen in, the home crowd may have started getting into the game, Gausman may have gotten a little rattled, and perhaps the Red Sox may have started chipping into the Orioles' substantial 5-0 lead that they had just built. Thanks to Beckham's nifty play, nothing of that type of scenario ever had a chance to happen.

 

o

o

 

(vs. MARINERS, 8/28)

 

Just 2 days later, that same Tim Beckham had one of the best defensive games of the season by an Orioles infielder ...... and he's only been with the team since August 1st.

There were at least 3 great plays made by Beckham tonight, including the double play ball that ended the game.

 

o

[Frobby]

Game 131, August 28

The O's played a stellar defensive game last night, especially Tim Beckham.

- First play of the game, Beckham ranged far to 2B on a hot shot up the middle, spun and fired a rocket to first for the out.   

- Third play of the game, Cano hit a liner in the gap but Mancini made a diving catch.    

- Later, Beckham was playing at about the normal 2B spot when a hitter hit a Baltimore chop that bounced probably 12-15 feet in the air and then hit the shallow infield, with Beckham charging the ball, grabbing a really tough short hop and throwing across his body for the out.   

- Beckham also handled a really hard hit smash to his backhand side on a short hop, threw to Schoop as he was falling down, and Schoop completed the DP.

- On the final play of the game Beckham grabbed a ground ball, stepped on 2B and made a low relay throw but Davis made a nice backhand pick for the DP.

There were two hits off O'Day in the 8th that I think might have been avoidable.    The first was a soft fly ball to CF by Cruz that Jones was slow coming in on, and it fell in front of him.   Then the next hitter hit a chopper in the 1B hole that eluded Chris Davis, who may have been screened by Cruz from getting a good look at it.    I was at the game and so didn't have the benefit of seeing replay of either play, so I could be wrong that plays might have been made on those hits, but that was my impression seeing them live.    I'd be interested in opinions from those who watched on TV.

[Frobby]

Game 135, Sept. 1

Wow, what a defensive bonanza.   I didn't even see the whole game, but saw:

- Great throw by Schoop to the plate and tag by Caleb to nab Pillar .- Amazing leaping catch by Mancini to save a run in the top of the 13th.

- About four outstanding plays by Manny at 3B.    One was charging a swinging bunt and firing to first, two others were throws gunned to first that nailed a runner by a whisker, and the final one was taking an attempted DP throw from Schoop in short RF to 2B (which was late and a little off line) and salvaging an out by immediately firing back to 1B.    That was a laser beam.

 

[Frobby]

This is a day or two late, but on Sunday one of the Toronto hitters hit a Baltimore chop that took a mile-high bounce short of 3B.    Manny charged in and, rather than waiting for the ball to come down, jumped to get it as quickly as he could and then fired a rocket to 1B that beat the runner by inches.    If he doesn't jump, the runner is safe.   One more for the highlight reel.  

[OFFNY]

o

 

(vs. BLUE JAYS, 9/11)

 

If they Orioles weren't my team, the bottom of the 2nd inning of tonight's game would have been hilarious.

 

o

[Luke-OH]

I think the "player X won't get a chance at position X as long as Buck is here because of how much he values defense" argument has lost any remaining credibility.

 

The main thing Buck values is familiarity, for better or worse.