The defense thread 2021

[Sports Guy]

 

[survivedc]

I don’t have a problem with RMC playing outfield, I think he will figure it out to at least be competent out there, but McKenna should be coming in if the O’s have a lead after the 7th (esp after RMC bats).

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, survivedc said:

I don’t have a problem with RMC playing outfield, I think he will figure it out to at least be competent out there, but McKenna should be coming in if the O’s have a lead after the 7th (esp after RMC bats).

Yep...we just have to deal with the mistakes he is going to make from time to time.

[Aristotelian]

45 minutes ago, survivedc said:

I don’t have a problem with RMC playing outfield, I think he will figure it out to at least be competent out there, but McKenna should be coming in if the O’s have a lead after the 7th (esp after RMC bats).

As Tony pointed out in the game thread, problem was Mountcastle was due up. Still may have wanted McKenna there. I mean, that play was worse than anything DJ Stewart has done and DJ has made some terrible plays. Could not have picked a worse spot too. 

Worth noting that Yankees D cost them the game too. Severino hustled on a ball that Gleyber threw in the dirt. Franco also should have beat a ball that the 1B bobbled but he pulled up thinking he would be out. We still scored but who knows what happens with an extra out.

[Moshagge3]

9 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Is Scott Garceau on Benadryl? Announcing like it's past his bed time.

 

 

And he apparently doesn't know what a walkoff win is.

[survivedc]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

As Tony pointed out in the game thread, problem was Mountcastle was due up. Still may have wanted McKenna there. I mean, that play was worse than anything DJ Stewart has done and DJ has made some terrible plays. Could not have picked a worse spot too. 

Worth noting that Yankees D cost them the game too. Severino hustled on a ball that Gleyber threw in the dirt. Franco also should have beat a ball that the 1B bobbled but he pulled up thinking he would be out. We still scored but who knows what happens with an extra out.

He batted top 7,  think he should’ve been pulled after that AB. I don’t have a catalogue memory of all of Stewart’s poor plays, but I’m not sure it was outright worse. It was a catch he should have made, no doubt, but it was on the run and with the ball tailing away. He didn’t trip and have the ball hit him in the head or something.

To be honest, I thought the second play was the worse of the two, seemed a little casual the whole time, though that is probably easier to correct. 

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, survivedc said:

He batted top 7,  think he should’ve been pulled after that AB. I don’t have a catalogue memory of all of Stewart’s poor plays, but I’m not sure it was outright worse. It was a catch he should have made, no doubt, but it was on the run and with the ball tailing away. He didn’t trip and have the ball hit him in the head or something.

To be honest, I thought the second play was the worse of the two, seemed a little casual the whole time, though that is probably easier to correct. 

To be honest I don't mind Stewart tripping and getting hit on the head. Sure it looks bad but guys trip. Mountcastle was on the run but did not need to be fully extended. Just straight up didn't catch the ball even though he was there. I almost would prefer he had the excuse of having tripped like Stewart.

[jabba72]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

To be honest I don't mind Stewart tripping and getting hit on the head. Sure it looks bad but guys trip. Mountcastle was on the run but did not need to be fully extended. Just straight up didn't catch the ball even though he was there. I almost would prefer he had the excuse of having tripped like Stewart.

Im not sure Stewart would have made that catch either. I've seen Stewart have trouble tracking flyballs in the air and this was hooking away from Mountcastle pretty quickly. He didnt catch it, but its not one recent LF's the O's have used would have done much better on. Dwight Smith is another example. 

[Frobby]

Game 7, April 8

I didn’t see this game, but I know it included:

- A terrific diving catch by Mullins in LCF. In addition to the very athletic dive, he had to stay focused on the ball while Mountcastle was also diving for the ball behind him.   Luckily they did not collide and Mullins made the catch.   

- A possibly catchable ball that Mountcastle didn’t catch.

- On the same play, Mountcastle overthrew 3B and while the runner who was diving into the bag held there, the batter ended up at 2B.

I don’t really know of anything else that may have occurred in this game.  
 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Frobby
Saw the video of the Mountcastle play (ugh)

[wildcard]

I know its a weird thing to say, but I think the O's need DJ Stewart for his defense.....and offense.   I think there were plays over the last two days that Mountcastle did make the Stewart probably would have.   Let Mountcastle DH and option Urias. The O's are giving the other team too many outs.

Another thing seems evident now is that the O's do need all 14 pitchers.  At least until the starters begin to go deeper in games.

 

[VaBird1]

18 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Game 7, April 8

I didn’t see this game, but I know it included:

- A terrific diving catch by Mullins in LCF. In addition to the very athletic dive, he had to stay focused on the ball while Mountcastle was also diving for the ball behind him.   Luckily they did not collide and Mullins made the catch.   

- A possibly catchable ball that Mountcastle didn’t catch.

- On the same play, Mountcastle overthrew 3B and while the runner who was diving into the bag held there, the batter ended up at 2B.

I don’t really know of anything else that may have occurred in this game.  
 

He also threw to the wrong base one time.  He didn’t look good today.

[Sports Guy]

The ball that RM didn’t catch wasn’t a good play but I also think he thought he would collide into Galvis, so he hesitated.

But he has to call him off and take charge there.  To me, that perfectly illustrates the newness of the position and why he needs reps out there.  

[WillyM]

12 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

As Tony pointed out in the game thread, problem was Mountcastle was due up. Still may have wanted McKenna there. I mean, that play was worse than anything DJ Stewart has done and DJ has made some terrible plays. Could not have picked a worse spot too. 

Worth noting that Yankees D cost them the game too. Severino hustled on a ball that Gleyber threw in the dirt. Franco also should have beat a ball that the 1B bobbled but he pulled up thinking he would be out. We still scored but who knows what happens with an extra out.

It's arguable that the Orioles might actually have lost Wednesday's game if Franco had run hard on the play where the first baseman bobbled the ball.

If Franco had been safe, there would have been runners on first and third with one out.  When Severino hit the grounder to shortstop, Torres wouldn't have thrown the ball in the dirt to the first baseman.  He would have flipped the ball quickly to the second baseman, trying for an inning-ending double play.  And if the Yankees had turned a double play in that situation, the top of the tenth inning would have been over, the Orioles would not have scored, and Higashioka's single would have won the game in the bottom of the tenth.

Not that I want to encourage Franco, next time he's in a similar situation, to ease up running to first.  That's not the way I want to see the Orioles play baseball.

[Oriole1940]

31 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The ball that RM didn’t catch wasn’t a good play but I also think he thought he would collide into Galvis, so he hesitated.

But he has to call him off and take charge there.  To me, that perfectly illustrates the newness of the position and why he needs reps out there.  

Then get the reps somewhere  else other than the ML games.  How many games are the Orioles going to lose or nearly lose while a player who is not good at a position practices in real game conditions,  trying to learn what should have been learned before he reached the big leagues.  I have NEVER heard of something like this,  and have been following big league games for almost ALL of my 81 years. 

[Beef Supreme]

As much as we are enjoying bashing Mountcastle for his poor defense -- the jog and dive in the fifth inning would have been a triple or inside the park HR if Mullins hadn't caught it and the play in the sixth when he let a catchable ball drop in and then threw it wildly back to the infield allowing the runner on first to advance were both ridiculous. But on that diving miss behind shortstop, Galvis should have been settled under it. Instead, Galvis froze at contact, then turned to his left towards centerfield and got completely spun around as the ball fell to what would have been over his right shoulder. Doesn't make Mountcastle's defense better but Galvis should have been camped out under that popup.