Orioles fans have been watching an interesting experiment take place on the diamond through the first eight games of the season. Buck Showalter has first baseman Chris Davis holding runners on a few steps off the bag.
Pickoff attempts may seem a bit strange, as Davis has to move over with the runner to place the tag, but like everything with the Orioles this subtle change has taken place for numerous reasons.
David Laurilla highlighted the numbers side of this new technique in a great piece on FanGraphs.com.
With the bases empty last year, batters posted a .295 BABIP, but with a runner on first base, that jumped to .308. Holding the runner on isn’t the only variable between those two situations — for instance, bad pitchers are more likely to put runners on base, so the population of pitchers in the man-on-first sample is almost certainly worse than the population of pitchers in the bases empty sample — but the less than optimal defensive alignment almost certainly does lead to a greater amount of base hits with a man on first base.
In addition to the numbers, Showalter’s move displays confidence in Matt Wieters‘ arm and creates a level of uncertainty for runners on first base. “You can create some unknown in the runners mind,” Showalter said in Laurilla’s column.
No kidding.
Buck is a man of minutia and as Orioles fans, we should all be glad.
This looks like a move made because The first baseman can’t perform at the preferred level at the bag………………..I’m trying to be critical of Davis , I actually like him a lot , but this just looks funny and I’m stating what I believe to be the truth……………..
I tend to lean towards spy on this one rather than Buck being a genius. Someone will take advantage of this shortly.
I have been reading this blog for awhile now and have noticed alot of things about the most common commenters. This guy Spy seems like he’s the voice of reason on here, Ravens2488 tells it like it is, Matt Lund understands what is going on, The writers on here are really good, Chow is an idiot, MGW is biased for the Orioles that they can do no wrong, Mystery Man says nothing. I only mention these people because they write the most.
WOW,,,,,,,an unbiased opinion and very good perception,,,,,,,,,,,,,you know this is true because it is coming from the voice of reason……………you guys better pay attention to Tim , he knows of which he speaks……………………
Come on spy, you logged on as Tim and wrote that about yourself. Pitiful…