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Stro fielding props

roger_that Sep 04 2021 05:45 PM

OK, the internet went berserk over Stroman beating Soto to 3B today, and tagging him out on the run, and all--I froze the tag to see if he really got a glove on him, and yes he did! OUT! Gold Glove for Stro! Fantastic heads-up play! Only...if you freeze it a few seconds earlier, not so much. With 3B uncovered, and Soto sliding into 2B, Stro should have been at least walking (I think hustling) over to 3B on the bare possibility (which soon turned into reality) that Soto would try for 3B if he were safe at 2B. IOW, he made a spectacular play out of what could have been a routine play, by looking at 3B instead of covering it as soon as he could have.

Frayed Knot Sep 04 2021 06:07 PM Re: Stro fielding props

A play like that is so unusual that it's tough to fault a player for not anticipating it. And if he did anticipate it the runner simply would have stayed on 2nd. You may recall a similar play a bunch of years ago with Jeter as the runner trying to "steal" 3rd against a shift. In that play the runner, the ball, and the catcher all arrived at the same time very similar to the Stroman play. The result was Jeter jamming his shoulder when his head-first dive met up with the shin-guard of a sliding catcher. The result was not only an out but a missed six weeks for 'the Captain'. It was Opening Day 2003

roger_that Sep 04 2021 07:31 PM Re: Stro fielding props

Yes, that's the idea--keeping the runner on 2B by covering the 3B bag. A slightly less good throw, or slightly less agility in applying the tag, Soto's safe at 3B (and that's probably the ballgame as it turned out). Seems to me with the shift so routinely causing 3B to go uncovered, that should be the standard, P covers 3B routinely on a shift. He's just a spectator on the mound otherwise.

Lefty Specialist Sep 05 2021 06:58 AM Re: Stro fielding props

Stroman was anticipating the DP there or at least an out at second, as were we all. I can't blame him for staying on the mound a tick longer.

Edgy MD Sep 05 2021 07:06 AM Re: Stro fielding props

I wasn't watching yesterday because of the blackout, but the pitcher covering an abandoned third base was on the short list of plays I've always wanted to see before I die. Maybe next time. Downside is that his effectiveness disappeared after the effort. Hard to outright assume cause and effect, but it's hard to ignore the possibility of it either.

roger_that Sep 05 2021 08:21 AM Re: Stro fielding props

The point is, anything screws up--a dropped transfer, a wild toss, a hard slide--and Soto's got 3B easy. Pitcher can't be a spectator with the shift on. I wouldn't be making anything of this, probably, if there weren't all these raves about Stro's heads-up fielding on that play. It was heads-up. Head's up his ass. I hope someone mentions that to him after the play.

Johnny Lunchbucket Sep 05 2021 08:26 AM Re: Stro fielding props

LOL. I think what people were raving about, whether they realized it or not, wasn't the presence of mind but the athletic ability to outrun a guy with a head start and momentum, and then interpreting that as having outsmarted him

nymr83 Sep 05 2021 08:59 AM Re: Stro fielding props

I think it would be fair to say "props" for his athleticism but he started out by making the same lazy play (or really, non-play) that most putchets would there. Im sure things have changed since i was a kid, but they never shifted in little league amd therefore never gave any thought to where the pitcher needs to be on that play. Nobody learned that. Which to me means it is on the club, not the player, to figure that out and teach it in spring training.

Frayed Knot Sep 05 2021 09:15 AM Re: Stro fielding props

I always had to tell softball pitchers to back up somewhere (pitchers usually need to be told everything) because, I'd say, 'no runner ever runs to the mound'. Would it have been better had he covered 3rd earlier? Well, as things turned out, no, but that was half luck, half skill so, yeah. My point was that it's not a normal play (although it may become more of one in the shift era) and therefore not something pitchers are likely to expect and/or anticipate.

roger_that Sep 10 2021 01:58 AM Re: Stro fielding props

Happened again last night, if you care. Bottom of the second, swinging bunt with a man on first, lefty shift on, and the ball got by Stro's glove. J.D. Davis, playing 3B but positioned near second, immediately gathered the loose ball but ON HIS WAY TO THE BALL had to start pointing frantically to 3B, telling Stro to get his ass over there. Fortunately, the runner safe at 2B was a catcher, Sandy Leon, but if it had been a speedster, we would have seen another footrace to the 3B bag.