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Monday, October 12, 2009
Third-base coach
Where should he be standing, and when should Punto be looking for him?
The third-base coach should be at one of two spots, depending on the situation:
1. close to the third base bag
2. half-way down the line
Until the ball clears the infield, the third-base coach has go to be close to the third base bag. Punto could already figure out that if the ball would have gone through, that it would take 4-5 seconds (at least) before the ball is picked up in the outfield, and he can just bear down and run.
If Punto does NOT see the coach at 3B, he has to believe that the ball has already gone through the infield. What value exactly does the coach have by being half-way down the line, if it’s an infield single?
Punto’s job is to pick up the thirdbase coach AT THIRD BASE. He’s supposed to look for him. He either did not see him, or was not looking for him. It’s hard to tell from the replays and angles I saw. It looks to me like he didn’t even look for the coach, and just kept his head down the whole way (which is always a b.s. way to run other than the first 10-20 feet).
The bottom-line is this: unless the third-base coach tells him to stop, Punto has to run. And, the ONLY sequence of plays that would have the coach make him stop running is if the ball remained in the infield. Had the ball gone through the infield, Punto would be waved in (implicitly or explicitly), simply because it would have been several seconds before the ball reaches the outfield.
Unless someone could show me why I’m wrong, 100% of the blame goes to the coach. If you want to add a minus to Punto for not looking up at the coach, fine. But, if Punto is looking up, he should be seeing the coach near the bag, not halfway down the line. Punto’s expectation, had he looked up, would be to see the coach near the bag.
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