Baseball Scrimmage Notes: Swinarski and that damned carpet

[godlluB]

Joey Swinarski was wearing a brace on his left wrist today. I guess this is the explanation for why he hasn't been playing lately. I'm guessing it's a sprain, it didn't look broken, but he was being really ginger with it.

Gavin Collins had a pretty serious mental mistake behind the plate. The ball got away from him on ball four. It went all the way to the fence, he just turned around and looked at it and didn't chase it. The runner took off running, and everyone started screaming at him. The runner slipped and fell rounding first, or he would have definitely taken second base. Otherwise, he had a solid game, and made several great stops on bad pitches, mainly from Dakota Hudson.

Kyle Hann made a nice play at short. There was a runner on first, and the hit & run was on. Hann broke toward second just as a hot grounder was hit behind him. He stopped and dove back toward third to make a great stop on the ball.

Slides into home plate on this new carpet are ridiculous. It looks like the runners are on a Slip-n-Slide. It's really tragic that this was allowed to happen at DNF. I also noticed that the runners on third were typically standing a little to the foul side of the bag so they could take off on the carpet instead of the dirt. I guess they're already coaching them to take advantage of it.

Wes Rea was doing a LOT of coaching this weekend. Saturday, he called a timeout FROM THE DUGOUT to go out and talk to the batter. Today, he called several timeouts from first to have a meeting at the mound with the (freshmen) pitcher and catcher.

Jacob Robson had a nice double off the wall in straightaway left. He then scored on a really nice slide past Zach Randolph at the plate.

[Will James]

Slides into home plate on this new carpet are ridiculous. It looks like the runners are on a Slip-n-Slide. It's really tragic that this was allowed to happen at DNF.

+1

[messageboardsuperhero]

Kyle Hann made a nice play at short. There was a runner on first, and the hit & run was on. Hann broke toward second just as a hot grounder was hit behind him. He stopped and dove back toward third to make a great stop on the ball.

Hann is a great defender. Actually, everyone we have in the middle is really good.


Slides into home plate on this new carpet are ridiculous. It looks like the runners are on a Slip-n-Slide. It's really tragic that this was allowed to happen at DNF. I also noticed that the runners on third were typically standing a little to the foul side of the bag so they could take off on the carpet instead of the dirt. I guess they're already coaching them to take advantage of it.

I really wish we had left the dirt area around home plate alone. I'm fine with artificial grass in foul territory and even down the foul lines in the infield, but I'm just not big on the idea of it being at home plate.


Jacob Robson had a nice double off the wall in straightaway left. He then scored on a really nice slide past Zach Randolph at the plate.

Love to see Robson get a little pop in his bat. He's going to be a player.

[FFF]

I also noticed that the runners on third were typically standing a little to the foul side of the bag so they could take off on the carpet instead of the dirt..

Even though you would be correct that the runners want to take off on the artificial surface, there are a couple of things:

1. There is a VERY noticeable transition between the fake dirt and real dirt (at least 1 1/2"). I really hope this does not cause any injuries because when I see it, that's the first thing I think. The second thing is that one of these days, a foul ball will hit the ledge at just the right spot to bounce hard fair and will at least result in a single, if not a double. (it's only this noticeable at the dirt to turf transition and not grass to turf)
2. Even on natural grass fields, players stand to the foul side of the bag at third base because if a batted ball hits them in fair territory, they are out. If it hits them in foul territory, it's nothing but a foul ball. This is pretty typical.