The Defense Thread, 2024

[Aristotelian]

16 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Another nifty play by Mountcastle last night.

Ryan Mountcastle's diving stop | 04/02/2024 | MLB.com

Also had a nice pick on a Westburg throw in the dirt. I don't see video of it in Film Room, unfortunately, but Mountcastle has been putting on a defensive clinic in the earlygoing.

[interloper]

I wanted to punt Mateo into the sun last night. He is an awful outfielder and I hope Hyde notes what he saw last night. Give me McKenna all day over Mateo in CF.

[Pickles]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

I wanted to punt Mateo into the sun last night. He is an awful outfielder and I hope Hyde notes what he saw last night. Give me McKenna all day over Mateo in CF.

Was there a particular play?

I only saw one he caught, and he charged in and took charge and caught it.  It was pretty routing, but he did a good job taking charge, which is the CF's responsibility.

[Say O!]

3 hours ago, Pickles said:

Was there a particular play?

I only saw one he caught, and he charged in and took charge and caught it.  It was pretty routing, but he did a good job taking charge, which is the CF's responsibility.

The two plays last night which have generated some discussion are here — link to reels

I thought his diving attempt in the first was great effort, his jump was solid, he tracked outstanding, just didn’t make the diving catch.  

The other play of note was the double to RCF, again I thought he tracked well to cut if off, conditions were wet, ball didn’t bounce as high, skipped under his glove although Mateo quickly regrouped preventing any runners further advancing. 

net/net, while he didn’t make these (potentially outstanding) plays, to me he looked capable in CF whereas I did not get that impression last year when his tracking was circuitous and missteps were prevalent in limited action.

Edited April 4 by Say O!

[Aristotelian]

There was a base hit in the gap that Mateo was trying to cut off and he didn't field it cleanly so the ball got by him. I believe this was Melendez's "double" in the 1st. It would have been a tough play but if Mateo gets there and fields cleanly it's possible that the runner has to stop.

[Pickles]

19 minutes ago, Say O! said:

The two plays last night which have generated some discussion are here — link to reels

I thought his diving attempt in the first was great effort, his jump was solid, he tracked outstanding, just didn’t make the diving catch.  

The other play of note was the double to RCF, again I thought he tracked well to cut if off, conditions were wet, ball didn’t bounce as high, skipped under his glove although Mateo quickly regrouped preventing any runners further advancing. 

net/net, while he didn’t make these (potentially outstanding) plays, to me he looked capable in CF whereas I did not get that impression last year when his tracking was circuitous and missteps were prevalent in limited action.

Yeah, I wouldn't criticize him too much for any of those plays.  The first play, he made a great effort.  The ball in the gap he didn't clean fieldly, but he cut it off, and recovered quickly and didn't give up any extra bases.

The last play was the one I had mentioned.  It's routine but it still required to fulfill the role the CF is expected to.

There's nothing from last night that would prevent me from continuing to let him play out there.

[spiritof66]

29 minutes ago, Say O! said:

The two plays last night which have generated some discussion are here — link to reels

I thought his diving attempt in the first was great effort, his jump was solid, he tracked outstanding, just didn’t make the diving catch.  

The other play of note was the double to RCF, again I thought he tracked well to cut if off, conditions were wet, ball didn’t bounce as high, skipped under his glove although Mateo quickly regrouped preventing any runners further advancing. 

net/net, while he didn’t make these (potentially outstanding) plays, to me he looked capable in CF whereas I did not get that impression last year when his tracking was circuitous and missteps were prevalent in limited action.

A heavy rain leaves the uncovered outfield a lot soggier than the covered infield., and balls that hit the OF turf will skid more and bounce lower. I wonder whether that's an adjustment that converted infielders like Mateo (and Derek Jeter, in an alternative world where he didn't insist on playing SS rather than moving to help the team) need to learn through experience.

[RZNJ]

So, I haven’t been able to find the catch probability on O’Hearns missed attempt on the triple the other night but simple deductive reasoning by looking at the Savant leaderboard shows that it would have been a 5-star catch so please readjust your thinking if you think it was fairly routine or not that difficult.

 

[Bahama O's Fan]

On the steal that was called out and then reversed when Urias dropped the ball, what am I missing? Did he not hold the ball long enough? How did that get reversed? I could see if it had been called safe on the field. 

[Malike]

4 hours ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

On the steal that was called out and then reversed when Urias dropped the ball, what am I missing? Did he not hold the ball long enough? How did that get reversed? I could see if it had been called safe on the field. 

He was correctly called out. No clue why the umps reversed it and Hyde possibly ran out of time to challenge it when he came out to argue it? Honestly, just guessing there.

[Moshagge3]

The catch by Cedric Mullins in the 11th was incredible and almost completely forgotten because O'Neill Cruz walked it off a second later.

[Spy Fox]

Several notable plays today on both the positive and the negative side. 

• Of course there was the game ending error that was almost a double play. 
• Back to back excellent plays by Henderson and then by Mateo in the 6th. 
• A throwing error on Kremer on what could have been a double play, leading to the first run. Maybe mixed responsibility between Kremer and Mateo. 
• A fantastic relay from Mullins to Mateo to McCann to save a run on a double. 

[spleen1015]

 

[Just Regular]

OAA already really liked Cowser's early numbers before tonight.

[KojiSplit]

Ridiculous defense tonight by Mateo and Gunnar

-Mateo backed up a ball thrown past Mountcastle to get India at 2nd on a perfect throw; India himself was in complete disbelief he was out

-Bottom 6th Stuart Fairchild tried to lead off the inning with a bunt base hit but Means did a great job getting to it and his spin throw got Fairchild out

-Gunnar flew in the air to snag a sharp high liner hit by Encarnacion-Strand (7th inning)

-Then in the 8th with Perez looking real shaky, he was able to get a grounder in which Gunnar turned a beautiful unassisted DP