The Defense Thread, 2019

[atomic]

10 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

Sucre had a passed ball along with that weird pop up double play.

Not his best game, given his reputation as a good defender.

Passed Ball was pretty bad.  It wasn't even a difficult play. 

[bobmc]

22 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Don't know about on MASN, but on the ESPN feed you could clearly hear Sucre screaming, "I got it. I got it." He called off everyone early. And by not catching the ball he started a double play, so that worked out well.

I heard him call it early also on the MASN feed and it appeared to be wind-blown.  I have seen the great Matt Wieters drop his share of popups so both Jesus' have flaws (who knew?).    PTL

[LTO's]

Ruiz made a nice play in really the only play he was challenged. Martin fielded a line drive and calmly turned a DP. OF was fine. Rickard made a really nice diving catch but also allowed Judge to take third on a really weak throw. We got beat by the shift a few times which was unfortunate. A few of those get fielded and we lose by 3 instead of 5 lol.

[Aristotelian]

I did not watch the game, but I am cautiously excited based on the box score and what you guys are reporting. Our defense was pretty terrible last year. Putting Manny at SS pushed Beckham to 3B and they were both bad. I think we are going to be much stronger up the middle. Will be interesting to see how we do with a more traditional 2B than Schoop who had terrible range but the ++ arm. I think Villar may be less useful as the deep guy in the shift but maybe they put Ruiz there?

Rickard made a nice diving catch that is in the game highlights. That one would have been a classic Trumbo pull-up. 

I thought some folks in the game thread mentioned some nice plays by Mullins. Can anyone comment? From the highlights, he is quick and gets good jumps, but unfortunately the balls were out of reach...428 feet over the wall.

[Frobby]

Game 2, March 30

- With the bases loaded in the 1st, Karns fielded a sharp grounder, swiveled as if to throw to 2B, then pivoted again and threw a lollipop to home, but Sucre grabbed it and fired to first for an inning-ending DP, barely getting the throw there in time thanks to Karns’ hesitation.  Very nice play from Sucre.

- Ruiz made a nice diving stop of a ball down the 3B line, but his throw from his knees was an almost comical two-hopper that the batter beat out.    

- Later Ruiz started a nice 5-4-3 DP.

- With a runner on 2B and two out, Richie Martin failed to glove a two-hopper up the middle that ticked off his glove, allowing the Yankees to score their first run.    Not an error but a play a good SS makes IMO.

-  With two on and two on in the 9th, Luke Voigt hit a ball into the Bermuda Triangle in short RCF.   Villar charged out, Mullins and Rickard charged in and Rickard made a sliding attempt but missed the catch.    It was a catchable ball but I think Rickard was distracted by the converging fielders and I can’t really fault him for not catching it.    Footnote: both outfielders were positioned incredibly deep on the play.    

- Sucre had a passed ball that I didn’t see, so I’m not sure what the situation was.   

Did I miss anything?

[ChuckS]

Ruiz had several nice plays.  Plays a good third baseman makes, but a bad one does not. 

I'm pretty confident in saying that I think we will be at least average there over the season. 

[Camden_yardbird]

So I was watching the YES feed of the game and Cone kept commenting that Sucre wasn't doing Yacabonis any favors with how he was catching the ball.  The glove was traveling off of the plate especially on outside pitches.

It was clearly a tight zone but after the mention I kept noticing it as well.  The framing was not great.

[Frobby]

26 minutes ago, Camden_yardbird said:

So I was watching the YES feed of the game and Cone kept commenting that Sucre wasn't doing Yacabonis any favors with how he was catching the ball.  The glove was traveling off of the plate especially on outside pitches.

It was clearly a tight zone but after the mention I kept noticing it as well.  The framing was not great.

I didn’t hear the comment, only saw the 8th and 9th innings, but noticed this several times.   

[Frobby]

Game 3, March 31

I only saw a portion of the 8th inning plus the 9th, so I need a lot of help here.   

- In the 9th, Ruiz charged a slow roller and made a strong throw to nab the leadoff hitter by half a step.

- Later in the inning, Martin fielded a sharply hit one-hopper up the middle on the outfield grass, and made a decent one-hop throw that Davis snagged on a crouch just before coming off the bag.    Unfortunately the runner arrived at pretty much the exact time the ball reached Davis’ glove and a safe call was upheld by video replay.    Martin played it well but a stronger throw might have gotten the runner.    The pick by Davis was excellent.

Anybody who saw earlier parts of the game, please chime in!

[Natty]

That throw from Martin looked weak, he couldn't get it there. A major league SS has to be able to make that throw. 

[bobmc]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Game 3, March 31

I only saw a portion of the 8th inning plus the 9th, so I need a lot of help here.   

- In the 9th, Ruiz charged a slow roller and made a strong throw to nab the leadoff hitter by half a step.

- Later in the inning, Martin fielded a sharply hit one-hopper up the middle on the outfield grass, and made a decent one-hop throw that Davis snagged on a crouch just before coming off the bag.    Unfortunately the runner arrived at pretty much the exact time the ball reached Davis’ glove and a safe call was upheld by video replay.    Martin played it well but a stronger throw might have gotten the runner.    The pick by Davis was excellent.

Anybody who saw earlier parts of the game, please chime in!

Do we mention bad D here also?  If so, Givens made a poor throw to Martin on a DP ball that cost him an error and about 12 more pitches but did not end up in any R's scored.  Martin earlier neatly fielded a sharp one hopper hit right at him and his throw was low and Davis scooped for the PO.

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, bobmc said:

Do we mention bad D here also?  If so, Givens made a poor throw to Martin on a DP ball that cost him an error about 12 more pitches but did not end up in any R's scored.  Martin earlier neatly fielded a sharp one hopper hit right at him and his throw was low and Davis scooped for the PO.

Absolutely.    I forgot about Givens’ throw.   Unusual for him, he’s an excellent fielder usually.   

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Absolutely.    I forgot about Givens’ throw.   Unusual for him, he’s an excellent fielder usually.   

That was weird for sure.

[interloper]

4 hours ago, Natty said:

That throw from Martin looked weak, he couldn't get it there. A major league SS has to be able to make that throw. 

Eh. On the other hand, it was tough to even make the stop in the first place. Then he had to rush it to beat the runner. We gotta remember - he's a AA player, basically. He's not gonna be perfect out there, but I bet he continues to get better. 

[bobmc]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Absolutely.    I forgot about Givens’ throw.   Unusual for him, he’s an excellent fielder usually.   

The classic mistake - he fields ball, turns and lead foot lands on uphill portion of mound and throw sails on him.