The Defense Thread, 2017

[OFFNY]

25 minutes ago, Frobby said:

o

 

Game 10, April 15

 

I didn't see this game live, but from the postgame show and the radio account, here's what I've got:

- Manny made three nice plays, spearing a line drive near the foul line, starting a DP from near the SS hole, and grabbing a ground smash down the foul line and making a strong throw across. On the radio, they mentioned another play where he could have started a DP but bobbled it. I didn't see it, so perhaps someone can comment.

- Castillo failed to block a ball in the dirt in the 8th, allowing a runner to advance to scoring position. It was scored a wild pitch, but Joe Angel felt that it should have been blocked but Castillo tried to backhand it. Again, I didn't see it.

- The first run scored when Castillo couldn't handle a tough bounce on a strong Jones throw from CF. Definitely a tough play for Castillo, but it's the kind of play Wieters was particularly adept at making.

That's all I got.

 

o

o

 

There was also a strange situation in which the Orioles failed to end the 8th inning without the Blue Jays scoring, just prior to the RBI-single with Castillo's play at the plate.

The Blue Jays runner was way off of 2nd base on a  long fly ball to the outfielder. Jonathan Schoop had plenty of time to throw to the Orioles player covering second base to double off the runner, but chose to hang onto the ball instead. So the Orioles basically had 2 chances to avert that run from scoring in the 8th inning, and did not capitalize on either of them.

 

o

[ChuckS]

Yeah, Schoop pocketing the ball with Bautista ten feet off second base hurt us big time today. 

[El Gordo]

22 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Game 10, April 15

I didn't see this game live, but from the postgame show and the radio account, here's what I've got:

- Manny made three nice plays, spearing a line drive near the foul line, starting a DP from near the SS hole, and grabbing a ground smash down the foul line and making a strong throw across.   On the radio, they mentioned another play where he could have started a DP but bobbled it.    I didn't see it so perhaps someone can comment.

- Castillo failed to block a ball in the dirt in the 8th, allowing a runner to advance to scoring position.    It was scored a wild pitch but Joe Angel felt that it should have been blocked but Castillo tried to backhand it.    Again, I didn't see it.

- The first run scored when Castillo couldn't handle a tough bounce on a strong Jones throw from CF.    Definitely a tough play for Castillo but it's the kind of play Wieters was particularly adept at making.

That's all I got.

If he'd made the tag he might well have been called for obstruction.

[Frobby]

Game 11, April 16

- Schoop and Hardy turned a tremedous DP to get Bundy out of the first inning with runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out.    Schoop was shifted far towards 1B and made a strong accurate throw to Hardy who made a lightning fast transfer and fired to first to get Morales by an eyelash.   

- Earlier that inning, Bundy pounced on an infield chopper and fired to first and the runner was called out, but the call was reversed.   Still well-played by Bundy.    In the second inning, he had another shot and this time beat the runner by a hair.   

- There was a chopper between a Bundy and Manny where Manny grabbed it and threw to first but the runner beat it.    It looked to me like Manny didn't charge the ball as fast as he could, possibly because for a split second he though Bundy would grab it.    

- On the first hit of the game, Pillar hit one into the corner and Gentry threw to 2B but the throw was far wide of the bag.   I'm sure Pillar would've been safe no matter what, but it was a noticeably inaccurate throw.  

- Mancini made a nice leaping catch off a liner by Morales and stepped on 1B for a DP.

- Jones nearly killed himself trying to catch up to a liner in the RCF gap.    He was about 2-3 feet from catching the ball and then slammed his shoulder and side into the wall, did a somersault and crumpled to the ground, with the ball between his body and the ball.    Trumbo did a good job to reach over Jones, pick the ball up and throw it in, or it could have been an inside the park home run.   

[Frobby]

Game 12, April 18

I didn't see much of this game (yesterday).    In the first inning, Trumbo failed to get to the lead off hit -- not a terrible play IMO, but a guy like Gentry might have caught it.   Later in the inning, Schoop couldn't keep a grounder up the middle in his glove, though he knocked it down.    On other days he might have made that play.

I think there was a similar play from Schoop the next inning, plus Manny made an error    

I don't know much else, but it was pointed out that Castillo had a hard time blocking some pitches   

Anyone who actually sat through that game, feel free to chime in.

 

 

[Frobby]

Game 13, April 19

- With two on and two out, Davis knocked a ball down near the foul line but couldn't make the play.   The play was initially scored an error but later changed to a hit.   Tom Davis and Rick Dempsey thought it was a good play by Davis to keep the ball in the infield and prevent the run from scoring.   I say, no error but no great play either.    I've seen Davis make plays like that plenty of times.

- Hardy made a nice catch extending on a liner directly over his head.

- The best play I saw was Gentry's catch on Votto's foul pop with 2 outs in the 8th.    He's our only corner OF who gets anywhere near that ball, plus it was a very tough catch once he got there running full speed and catching it right by a thigh-high wall, before falling partway into the stands.  

- On the final play of the game, a grounder popped out of Davis' glove, but he kept it in front of him and made a flip to Brach, who did a great job hustling over to the bag.   

[justD]

Received notice of this latest upload from one of our former farm hands, Matt Antonelli, who is currently a college coach. Thought it might be more than just analysis of the one play, but still found it interesting:

 

 

[Frobby]

Game 14, April 20

I didn't see the first 6 innings.    Nothing notable happened after that.    

[Frobby]

Game 15, April 21

- I didn't see the game, but we turned three DP's to keep Bundy out of trouble early.    Hardy made a throwing error to extend the first inning, but Bundy eventually got the next hitter after an 8-pitch battle.   

[ChuckS]

Gendry cut a ball off down the line holding the runner to a single.  It was a sharply hit ball in the corner and may have gotten to the wall if anyone else was out there. 

[backwardsk]

Strange play.  Runner on first, pop up to where a second baseman would normally be, the ball drops because Schoop and Hardy cover the bag.  Davis races over to get the force at second.

[SteveA]

17 minutes ago, backwardsk said:

Strange play.  Runner on first, pop up to where a second baseman would normally be, the ball drops because Schoop and Hardy cover the bag.  Davis races over to get the force at second.

Yeah, that was really odd.   Didn't see a replay at the ballpark to figure out exactly who was where and who wasn't where they should be.   I thought Davis glanced back to first for some reason to see if Bundy was covering and that slowed him to the point where he couldn't catch the popup. 

There was also a fly ball that Trumbo didn't get to that most rightfielders would have.   Nothing new there.  Not QUITE as bad as the play behind Gausman in the first inning Tuesday.   But pretty bad.

[SilverRocket]

They've put Trumbo in right over Mancini a few times now. I know Mancini is new to OF but can that really be correct?

[Can_of_corn]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/blog/bal-orioles-second-baseman-jonathan-schoop-on-his-defense-i-ve-just-got-to-be-better-20170423-story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Quote

Single-season defensive metrics are particularly volatile, and many aren’t even available yet for 2017. But those that are don’t paint a pretty picture so far. Last year, according to FanGraphs, Schoop fielded 79 percent (289 of 366) of balls in his zone (known as RZR), with 68 plays made out of zone. That ranked eighth and 11th out of the 21 qualifying second basemen, respectively.

This year, Schoop has converted 63.3 percent of the balls in his zone (19 of 30) into outs, which is 26th out of 28 qualifiers so far. He also has -4 defensive runs saved through 16 games.

 

[Frobby]

That Schoop stat rings true.