“Interesting” Base Running Of Late...

Just a quick midweek post to note how many odd base running blunders have befallen the A’s of late — not that they have literally fallen, but they may as well have...

Today’s specials included Tyler Soderstrom going halfway between 1B and 2B on a twisting fly ball into the RF corner of the bat of Tyler Nevin. It was in the air a while and to the base runner it could well have been unclear whether it was going to be caught, drop fair or drop foul.

Nonetheless the only right move, if you thought it might be caught, was to go halfway and wait to find out. Instead, as Cody Bellinger closed in on it Soderstrom inexplicably started to run back towards 1B. The ball dropped fair and actually rattled around a bit in the corner and yet Soderstrom could only get to 2B, meaning Nevin was stuck at 1B. What should have easily been 2B and 3B became only 1B and 2B.

It was reminiscent of a blunder on the last homestand when Lawrence Butler went back to tag at 2B on a long fly ball to CF that despite not being caught only allowed Butler to go to 3B.

Later today came the attempted double steal with 2 outs and Brent Rooker at 3B and Shea Langeliers at 1B. You can debate whether it was a good or bad idea — the batter, Seth Brown, did have 2 strikes on him but as we saw next inning he also had in him a line drive base hit off that same pitcher.

Regardless, the A’s didn’t execute it well at all. Langeliers drew a throw to 2B and stopped halfway, which forces Rooker’s hand — at some point he has to try to score. The way you play that is that if you’re Langeliers you stay in the rundown long enough to draw at least one throw. If you’re Rooker you need to be getting down the line at 3B waiting for a throw to be released in the rundown and that’s when you streak for home hoping to outrun the infielder catching the throw, turning and firing home.

Trouble is, Rooker didn’t get very down the line and didn’t really break immediately upon seeing the throw. Also, Rooker is just not especially fast and that play works a lot better if you have a runner at 3B gifted with natural foot speed.

And why was Langeliers only at 1B to begin with? He lined one into the left-center field gap that forced Ian Happ to hustle to play it just to keep Rooker from scoring. Shea should have been at 2B with a double easily.

Any one of these gaffes/missteps you might attribute to a long season and the occasional brain lock. But these are coming fast and furious and you wonder why the A’s don’t show better fundamentals around tagging up or going halfway, or just reading a basic situation.

Also, stop watching the play as you run and focus on your base coach instead. Get across the base before you worry about calling yourself “safe”. And for all that is holy, forget about your batting helmet until the play is dead. (No, Miguel Andujar, I mean until the umpire agrees the play is dead. And Butler, either get a bigger or a smaller helmet, not one you constantly want to fidget with as you’re running and it’s coming off a little but not entirely.)

Your thoughts on the A’s base running and on base running fundamentals in general? On the plus side, for all the “oopsies” today the A’s still won!