Brandon Hyde 2024

[survivedc]

16 minutes ago, Fuzzball22 said:

Trust him to get a good jump, trust him not to get picked off, trust him to not get doubled up on a liner, etc. More to being a good baserunner than speed. Doubly so for a struggling 20 year old player.

Ok fine, what in his time in the majors has led you to doubt his base running? That and his eye are the only two things that have stood out. Furthermore, what in the world is he on the team for at this point IF NOT for his baserunning?

[DirtyBird]

21 minutes ago, Fuzzball22 said:

Trust him to get a good jump, trust him not to get picked off, trust him to not get doubled up on a liner, etc. More to being a good baserunner than speed. Doubly so for a struggling 20 year old player.

Even if you toss his ability to steal a base, he’s still way more likely to score from first on a double.

[SilverRocket]

7 minutes ago, survivedc said:

Ok fine, what in his time in the majors has led you to doubt his base running? That and his eye are the only two things that have stood out. Furthermore, what in the world is he on the team for at this point IF NOT for his baserunning?

There've been several plays where he made a poor read on a bloop and didn't advance an extra base when many runners would have. Basically what Urias did today. Overall with his speed he's still an above-average baserunner but I can imagine the difference might be small enough to save him for a future change.

[bpilktree67]

They are not going to steal in that situation with 3 lefties up so Holliday to O’Hearn was a non issue with him on 1st.  If he gets to 2nd then maybe you make the switch because a base hit might score him, but with Royals playing no double defense it about impossible to score from 1st .  

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, waroriole said:

It didn’t really matter, but I thought he’d pinch run for OHearn. 

I didn’t understand the failure to do that.  If someone had hit a double and O’Hearn had been unable to score, I might hopped the railing and strangled Hyde.  

[survivedc]

49 minutes ago, bpilktree67 said:

They are not going to steal in that situation with 3 lefties up so Holliday to O’Hearn was a non issue with him on 1st.  If he gets to 2nd then maybe you make the switch because a base hit might score him, but with Royals playing no double defense it about impossible to score from 1st .  

So speed on 1st only matters if you are stealing? What about a pitch that bounces and rolls, or a bouncer into the hole, or a deep fly that is caught with their back to the infield on the lf warning track, or a bloop single to rf, or an errant pick off throw to 1st? A speed advantage doesn’t help you there?

[Frobby]

57 minutes ago, bpilktree67 said:

They are not going to steal in that situation with 3 lefties up so Holliday to O’Hearn was a non issue with him on 1st.  If he gets to 2nd then maybe you make the switch because a base hit might score him, but with Royals playing no double defense it about impossible to score from 1st .  

I doubt Holliday would have attempted a steal.  But going first to third on a single or 1st to home on a double could have been crucial.  And, just having a faster runner might nave distracted the pitcher a little.  And finally, what exactly were they saving Holliday for?

[bpilktree67]

6 minutes ago, survivedc said:

So speed on 1st only matters if you are stealing? What about a pitch that bounces and rolls, or a bouncer into the hole, or a deep fly that is caught with their back to the infield on the lf warning track, or a bloop single to rf, or an errant pick off throw to 1st? A speed advantage doesn’t help you there?

You have left handed batters so you don’t steal to leave open the hole.  They also are not gonna hut a fly ball you can tag up on to right field in Camden Yards.  O’Hearn is a decent runner that has very good baseball instincts it isn’t like it was Jiminez he is pinch running for.  

[bpilktree67]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I doubt Holliday would have attempted a steal.  But going first to third on a single or 1st to home on a double could have been crucial.  And, just having a faster runner might nave distracted the pitcher a little.  And finally, what exactly were they saving Holliday for?

They were saving him for when the thought he was needed most with lefties up they probably pull it so going 1st to 3rd in Camden Yards isn’t usually a smart move with right fielders so close.   If it was to pinch run or possibly have to hit.  They were two spots away from getting to the pitcher spot where you would want a lefty to face Ercg.  As I have said lefties up you like to leave the hole between first and second unless you know it is an easy steal.  If he tries to steal and gets thrown out people are mad you made an out on the base paths and didn’t give the hitters a chance.  It all risk reward.  

[Just Regular]

I think on the final out, the hole for a single to setup 1st and 3rd advantage decreases.      If you probably aren't getting one single, you very probably aren't getting two.

[Aristotelian]

12 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I doubt Holliday would have attempted a steal.  But going first to third on a single or 1st to home on a double could have been crucial.  And, just having a faster runner might nave distracted the pitcher a little.  And finally, what exactly were they saving Holliday for?

They were saving him to replace Kjerstad for defense IMO. I think the calculation was they weren't going to run themselves out of an inning, so Holliday's slight speed advantage was less likely to make a difference than moving Santander out of position. I think you are missing that O'Hearn has above average speed so there is very little advantage unless you are planning to steal.

[Just Regular]

Not pinch running and/or trying a 9th inning steal anytime after the O'Hearn walk, I guess it is natural to wonder if Gunnar being Caught Stealing after reaching leading off the bottom of the 9th down 1 run in 2023 ALDS Game 1 was any kind of influence.

[survivedc]

57 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

They were saving him to replace Kjerstad for defense IMO. I think the calculation was they weren't going to run themselves out of an inning, so Holliday's slight speed advantage was less likely to make a difference than moving Santander out of position. I think you are missing that O'Hearn has above average speed so there is very little advantage unless you are planning to steal.

FWIW, O’Hearn is in the 64th percentile in sprint speed, Holliday is in the 95th. I’d say that’s a pretty good advantage.

[LGOrioles]

It also seemed questionable to PH Kjerstad for Urias there. Ramon has been one of their best hitters the last 2 months. Kjerstad has more power potential but Erceg doesn’t give up HR’s. Having a strikeout prone batter PH for his first playoff appearance against a high strikeout reliever ended up predictably with… a strikeout. Erceg doesn’t have huge LH/RH splits in terms of his K/BB rate and Ramon hits RHP’s fine. 

If you’re splitting hairs with Urias/Kjerstad there, McCann needed to be PH for in the 5th after watching his 3rd inning AB (where he should have been bunting).

 

 

 

[LGOrioles]

And full stop, losing this series, especially without winning a game, is completely indefensible. Last year they had the layoff excuse, the lack of playoff experience excuse, and the fact that the Rangers ended up winning it all. This year, there is zero excuse. The Royals might be the worst team to make the playoffs this year. They have one good position player. Only Detroit has a lower wRC+ among playoff teams. Their pitching is good, but is only tied for 6th/7th among the 12 playoff teams in ERA. It’s nothing special - this is the type of pitching you will see if you want to go anywhere in the playoffs. Their core also has little to no playoff experience. They were awful the last month of the season. They’re a .500 team that happened to play in the White Sox division and took full advantage of it. 

Hyde can’t be blamed for a lot of their problems, but his team is 0-4 in playoff games while getting out scored 22-11. They’re a game away from making that 0-5 and losing to an 86 win, much less talented team. Results matter.