The defense thread 2021

[Frobby]

Game 1, April 2

i didn’t watch the entire game, so others can elaborate.   But from following the game thread:

- Rio Ruiz, playing at 2B, made not one, not two, but three fine plays in the field.    Two over the shoulder catches and a third play where I’m not sure what happened.   

- Maikel Franco booted a routine grounder at 3B, one of only two baserunners all game against John Means.  

- Not sure what it was, but I believe Mancini made a nice play at 1B.   

- In the 9th, Austin Hays almost nabbed JD Martinez at 2B with a perfect rifle strike from the LF corner, but Martinez got in just ahead of the throw.    

- Pedro Severino then let a strike tick off his glove and go all the way to the backstop to advance Martinez to 3B.   It turned out not to matter, as the hitter hit a liner to Santander that ended the game.   Still, sloppy play by Severino.   

Hopefully someone can elaborate on the third Ruiz play and the Mancini play, plus anything else of note that I missed.   




 

[ChipTait]

Rio dove to his left to spear a grounder.  Certainly saved a base hit.

[Natty]

Ruiz made the 3 best defensive plays of the game. And he showed great range. Right now he's the leading candidate for the 2B gold glove award. 

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, Natty said:

Ruiz made the 3 best defensive plays of the game. And he showed great range. Right now he's the leading candidate for the 2B gold glove award. 

I watched the over the shoulder play on replay and while it was a great play I can't help but think he should have let Santander make the attempt.  But he, he made the catch so it's cool.

[interloper]

26 minutes ago, ChipTait said:

Rio dove to his left to spear a grounder.  Certainly saved a base hit.

This one was particularly excellent. Made me laugh out loud.

[Just Regular]

12 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I watched the over the shoulder play on replay and while it was a great play I can't help but think he should have let Santander make the attempt.  But he, he made the catch so it's cool.

Naturally when Enrique took one of those away from Renfroe, Garceau and Palmer were there with the observation it was probably the outfielder's ball.

It's all about the laundry you wear.

[TWpj]

26 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I watched the over the shoulder play on replay and while it was a great play I can't help but think he should have let Santander make the attempt.  But he, he made the catch so it's cool.

That’s not how it works. An IF is supposed to keep pursuing until the OF calls him off. Who knows if that happened but the IF does not just stop to let the OF make the play. 

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, TWpj said:

That’s not how it works. An IF is supposed to keep pursuing until the OF calls him off. Who knows if that happened but the IF does not just stop to let the OF make the play. 

 

13 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

The 2B keeps going until the OF calls him off.  Naturally,  Ruiz was watching the ball, not Santander.  It's also questionable if Santander gets there.  Great play by Ruiz.  He did everything right.

I assumed Santander was trying to call him off, if he wasn't that was, of course, on Santander.  He had the easier play on the ball. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

Whatever you say.

I'm sorry, you're right, its way easier to go out on the ball and catch in like that instead of coming in on the ball.  Santander also wasn't so close to the play that he had to slide to keep from complicating the play. 

 

 

[Yossarian]

I'm with those that say it didn't look like Santander was going to get to the ball.  He should not call anyone off unless he is sure he can get there.  Maybe it just looked that we because he let up when he saw Ruiz was not slowing down and he wanted to avoid a collision.  Was Santander playing way off the line and deep?  He seemed like he should have been able to run under that ball - it was in the air for a long time.

[Can_of_corn]

7 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Easier play for the outfielder, assuming he can get there.  You're pretty big on assumptions.  When you're wrong all you do is pivot and go in a different direction.  It's standard CoC.

He was there.

He had to pull up and slide to not interfere with the play.

How was he not going to get there?

I will admit I didn't think Santander wouldn't have called him off...what with the mask and all.

The announcers are even assuming Santander will make the play.

 

[ChuckS]

33 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

 

I assumed Santander was trying to call him off, if he wasn't that was, of course, on Santander.  He had the easier play on the ball. 

He had the easier play on the ball if he was able to make it there but it didn't seem like he was.  Pulled up and slid to avoid the collision doesn't necessarily mean he could have made the catch. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, ChuckS said:

He had the easier play on the ball if he was able to make it there but it didn't seem like he was. 

He's this close after pulling up.

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, RZNJ said:

I saw him slide. Pull up as if he was easily going to get there and slid only to avoid Ruiz.  Is that what you're selling?

He was running hard to get to the ball but it certainly looked to me like he had time to make the play.  I'm not suggesting it was a super easy play for either player.

Silly thing to argue about really but yea, if the outfielder can get to the ball he should call off the infielder.

[Can_of_corn]

17 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

You're original point was that Ruiz should have let him make the play.  Now the argument is whether Santander "pulled up".  You state that as a fact.  LOL

My original point was made with the assumption that Santander was calling him off.  I've admitted that was an assumption on my part.  I should not have made that assumption.

With regards to Frobby...did you think I didn't already know the (general) answer to the question I'd asked?  I've posted about the time tables for college catchers that were top five picks before.  I wasn't "owned".  I was on mobile at the time and didn't feel like pulling up the exact figure.  Frobby is normally very nice about getting data like that.

I should have repped him for the work tho.  I've gone back and fixed that.