I agree about it being a good discussion.Alex Gee said:This is a good discussion by the way, wanted to say that out front.tau06 said:CLTWolf said:Good for you, golf is quite hard as well. I don't know anything about it.tau06 said:CLTWolf said:You weren't playing on a full sized field in middle school? I was.tau06 said:Alex Gee said:Pretty common play in that situation. Lefty on the mound, send the guy on first to try to draw a throw/balk since the pitcher is staring him down. With two strikes in a left on left matchup, it's not a bad play at all.Nairo said:
What in the hell fire was that?
Edit: Maybe not common, but useful. We frequently try to get in a rundown between first and second in that situation. Have scored on it a couple of times this year and been scored on by teams using it.
Trying to steal home in no way is ever common after about 13 year old ball when you move to a full size field…
Didn't burn us and we are rounding into form but coaching decisions in really important moments continues. Add this to the list with all the bunting we do with our 3/4/5 hitters. Just bad baseball.
2 of 3 is what we needed, keep it rolling against the cheats next week!
Pitching was outstanding the last two games. Let's keep it rolling!
The word "about" was used here to show an estimation. Guess I should have said 12 or 11 instead. Guessing you knew that though.
I gave up any baseball dreams once the field got big and I realized i wasn't any good. Switched to golf and never looked back. Couple of State Championships proved that was probably a good decision on my part… baseball is hard
Point is, trying to steal home (using a delayed double steal) is something every team has in the "playbook" on all levels. Some coaches obviously have different opinions on when to use it, etc. As Alex Gee pointed out, we've done this a couple times this year and they worked and no one seemed to belly ache about it then. It worked, we scored, and everyone moved on to the next thing to piss and moan about. haha
The best time to use a delayed double steal is later in the game, with two outs (2 strikes too) and most of the time (like another poster mentioned) you want to do it with a poor hitter up. I don't mind doing it with a guy like Soles b/c the other team would probably least expect it and he's going to be your leadoff hitter the next inning.
Here's one from this year and it wasn't even a delayed double and the pitcher was a righty too. Yesterday the pitcher was a lefty which is a better situation (duh, right?).
Fair. I'd say I've watched 70% of our games but missed the ones that we used it in. I certainly don't disagree that it's in the playbook so to speak but I just disagree it's a good call. Same as my opinion on bunts. It's a bad call even when it works. But that's just the statistician in me. Wish it would have worked this time!
I think it's interesting that you mention stats. I tried to allude to the analytics of it a few posts back. I don't have the exact numbers and I'm not sure you could find them for college baseball, but in the majors this season, hitters in 2 strike counts are batting a median .166.
I am pretty confident that the staff knows what our 2-strike hitting percentage is and played to that number. Add in whatever their thoughts are on the left-on-left matchup + how the AB was going (3 takes and a swing and miss). Just speculating, but I think they played the higher odds, and it didn't work out.
ETA:Link to rundown scoring against ECU. 2 strike, 2 out scenario. Difference being the handiness of the pitcher. TC was just more aggressive than Trice was.
I will say the better the defensive team you are playing, the worse the call. This is a surprise type play, not execution. It takes a little luck to be successful and two smart, fast baserunners. With two outs, it makes it even harder, for if you get the guy on first out before the runs scores, you aren't successful. Even easier for the defense. A good defensive team wants you to try something like this, it is a very low percentage play. That's why who is batting is a key. The more often they strike out, the less the risk. I looked up Soles K's this year. 12. The lowest of all players that have played many games tied with Nixon who has less AB's. Groover, who hits well, had struck out 22 times in the stats I saw. Granted Groover had about double the AB's and owns slightly lower percentage of striking out compared to Soles. Groover is the only one better, percentage-wise. Green, Cozart and Candelaria had struck more than Groover. Those are our clutch players. I know Soles missed a lot of games, but he doesn't strike out much. I think he would have likely put a ball in play to the left side of the diamond. SS, 3B or LF-CF...error or hit we score...otherwise the played we tried or letting Soles hit doesn't matter. It's all about philosophy in coaching. This play is a calculated gamble. I want my players to know I trust them more batting than picking a play where we need luck...and quite a bit of it. I know the play works sometimes, lots of teams have it. Timing is everything, both when to use it and the situation with both batter and runners. Defending it is less luck and more preparedness and execution. Good defensive teams want you try to these types of plays, it is giving them easy outs. That why I don't like it. The teams I both played on and coached were good at defending these plays. Likely why I don't like them. Having a good SS and catcher is the key to defending against them, both knowing what to do and executing. Lots of practice, almost PFP, and no one likes it. Players run A LOT. BUT, if you do it right, you get outs. Thus, my philosophy. Let a good contact hitter like Soles swing. Maybe he gets a hit, maybe they make a fielding or throwing error. Likely a higher percentage play than the double steal. If not, you would see more double steal attempts. I really don't like suicide squeezes, either. But that is another story for another day.
By the way, I love talking baseball. This sort of thing is what makes baseball a lot different than other sports. Thinking ahead of the other coach and team wins you games. No one is wrong before hand. It's just philosphy. And the argument is for or against an idea, no matter how sound or reasoned, can be wrong. The coach only has to be right once. He just needs to be right at the right time. There is a lot to be said for being aggressive play but smart baseball wins almost all the time. I think the smartest, most well prepared team wins games, more often than not. That's not always the team with the best pitcher or players.
