chasfh Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 1 hour ago, oblong said: Not defending him but Al Kaline of all people used to say that line drives/hard hit balls hit right at an OF are the hardest plays. You are like an infielder at that point with little time to react. Do you go in, out, left ,right, dive,smother? In his case he made the right call at that point in the game but was just not athletic or skillful enough to make the play. I can vouch for this firsthand. Vilade made the right play, he simply botched it because he is not major league good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oblong Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 7 minutes ago, chasfh said: I can vouch for this firsthand. Vilade made the right play, he simply botched it because he is not major league good. He looked like a guy off the street would... or to be blunt, a minor leaguer. If you go to enough ML games and then go to a AA game, you notice that stuff. We are used to the crispness and speed. I always wondered what would happen if you took a random Division 1 Outfielder and threw them in an ML outfield. I mean... it's just a fly ball right? All I can share from my experience is getting to be on Comerica Park's field for batting practice (our batting practice, not the Tigers, I got to attend a sponsor event and take some swings and play catch and whatever in the OF) and when you are out there shagging balls... it's a big field. I thought, "Ok, I'm going to pretend to be a player". I played HS baseball, was pretty good if I must say, I played in an adult hardball league after, I played softball after that... but it was different out there. And I can only imagine how different with ML pitchers and hitters doing their thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 3 minutes ago, oblong said: He looked like a guy off the street would... or to be blunt, a minor leaguer. If you go to enough ML games and then go to a AA game, you notice that stuff. We are used to the crispness and speed. I always wondered what would happen if you took a random Division 1 Outfielder and threw them in an ML outfield. I mean... it's just a fly ball right? All I can share from my experience is getting to be on Comerica Park's field for batting practice (our batting practice, not the Tigers, I got to attend a sponsor event and take some swings and play catch and whatever in the OF) and when you are out there shagging balls... it's a big field. I thought, "Ok, I'm going to pretend to be a player". I played HS baseball, was pretty good if I must say, I played in an adult hardball league after, I played softball after that... but it was different out there. And I can only imagine how different with ML pitchers and hitters doing their thing. It's not just major league fields, either. I played a hardball league championship in the Schaumburg Boomers stadium maybe a dozen years ago, and standing in left field, what startled me as how far back the backstop was from the plate. It completely ****ed my depth perception, and I had a really hard time judging balls hit to me because I simply wasn't used to the depth. On your question, though, I might put it in terms of probability percentage for the play Vilade just missed. An average major league makes that play maybe 95% of the time; an average AAA makes it maybe 80%, average AA maybe 70%, and so on. An average D1 guy makes it maybe maybe 40% of the time. I could make that play maybe one in five. I could be completely all wet on the numbers, but that's how I would frame the difference in this particular case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chasfh Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 In fact, when I get a low liner like that, something that is about shin high, speaking only for myself, I've found that I am more successful if I slide down unto my knees, like kneeling, and catch it about belt high at that point, versus diving forward for it like Vilade did. But that's just a personal defenisve quirk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger2022 Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 I played one year in college and everything moves and seems to happen so much faster than in high school. I assume it's like that every level you go up. And don't even get me started on sliders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gehringer_2 Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 7 hours ago, chasfh said: I can vouch for this firsthand. Vilade made the right play, he simply botched it because he is not major league good. there is an art to getting your glove turned around to open upward on a dive that even many major leaguers never fully master. For a master class lesson see Parker's nab of that sinking liner the other night where the fingers of his gloves were literally on the ground - glove open upward, as ball landed on/in them for the out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattleMike Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said: there is an art to getting your glove turned around to open upward on a dive that even many major leaguers never fully master. For a master class lesson see Parker's nab of that sinking liner the other night where the fingers of his gloves were literally on the ground - glove open upward, as ball landed on/in them for the out. He just misplayed the ball. Meadows probably catches that without diving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adullin Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 This team has been lionized. Just enough to lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger337 Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 9 hours ago, oblong said: He looked like a guy off the street would... or to be blunt, a minor leaguer. If you go to enough ML games and then go to a AA game, you notice that stuff. We are used to the crispness and speed. When I used to go to a lot of minor league games, I definitely noticed that the difference betwen fielding in the majors and was minors was very noticeable. Everybody knows about the difference in pitching and hitting but I think the fielding differential is just as big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyMarsh Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 10 hours ago, tiger2022 said: I played one year in college and everything moves and seems to happen so much faster than in high school. I assume it's like that every level you go up. And don't even get me started on sliders. Yeah, never played past high school but played at a pretty high level there(not necessarily me but people I played with and against) having made the final 4 in states one of the years and also playing a few years of AAU ball against quite a few guys who ended up making the pros at some level. Anyway I just remember how much better those guys who "only" ended up being minor leaguers looked then guys like me and most other regular players. I remember Chris Getz who is now the White Sox GM was a guy who had a real reputation in our circles and he didn't disappoint the times I faced him. Looked like Mike Trout compared to most of us so seeing how good even these fringe major leaguers or minor leaguers were as teenagers compared to your regular varsity baseball player makes me appreciate just how good everybody in the majors is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sports_Freak Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 1 hour ago, Adullin said: This team has been lionized. Just enough to lose. Those late game melt downs are the worst. I'm glad I had to be awake early, I didn't even turn this game on. Watch for 8 2/3 innings just to watch our BP blow it, I woulda tossed and turned all night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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