Reaching up to take the throw from the catcher on a close play at second base.
Photo courtesy Boston Red Sox
C H A P T E R T H I R T E E N
Good defensive teams have “strength up the middle.” That’s where most of the action is; it starts with the pitcher, the catcher, the second baseman, the shortstop, and the center fielder.
The job requirements for a second baseman are courage, intelligence, quick feet, and quick hands. He doesn’t have to have a strong arm, but it helps to be acrobatic, a tap dancer. I came out of high school as a shortstop, and then on my first day at professional camp, they said, “Go learn how to play second base. You don’t have the arm strength to play shortstop.”
The second baseman needs courage because he’s going to get wiped out regularly on force plays at second base. His back is to the runner, so he’s going to be blindsided most of the time when he gets hit. And his left knee is vulnerable every time he makes a double play.
He needs intelligence because many times he’s the guy making the calls in the infield: You got it, I got it. He needs to have a good grasp on what the batter and the runner are capable of doing, and he has to know the pitcher and the other infielders.
He needs quick hands to turn a double play and quick feet to cover ground to his right and left and to get out of the way of the runners.
There is no single personality type for a second baseman. When I played I was pretty intense. I never felt calm or relaxed. It didn’t happen smoothly for me.
Either way, the second baseman has to be someone who doesn’t take his bad at bats to the field. There’s a lot of action up the middle of the field, and he’s involved in just about everything. He’s got to quickly leave his offense in the dugout and take his defensive game onto the field. If he doesn’t, he’s going to get burned quickly.
The most important question is: “Can this guy turn a double play?” That’s the biggest job defensively. The more fearless he is, the better chance he has to make a double play. And then you hope for a guy who can make the great plays, like charging in on a slow roller.
Most of the good second basemen have very quick hands, and they’ll catch the ball out front of them with two hands. It’s almost as if the ball never touches the glove. And while it’s happening, they are getting themselves into a good position to make the throw to first base.
It’s a position where managers would like to see fewer than twelve errors per year.
It is almost impossible to be a left-handed second baseman, because of the difficulty of turning a double play. If he came across the bag, he’d have to spin all the way around to throw to first.
A team can’t hide a weak fielder at second because there’s too much action up the middle. He’s got to make plays on grounders, make the double play, and handle relays from the outfield. If he’s a bad fielder, it’s not going to take long to expose him.
The most difficult play for any infielder is the backhanded play, and it’s particularly tough for second basemen, most of whom don’t have the arm strength of the shortstop. When they’re on their backhand, they’re going up the middle toward center field, and it’s tough to plant and throw. It’s hard to be accurate and get much on it.
Another reason why the backhanded play is difficult for a second baseman is that he wears the smallest glove in the infield. The reason it’s small is to make it easier to get the ball out of the glove when he’s executing a double play.
As a second baseman, when you come to the base to execute a double play, most of the time your back is to the runner coming in. I could feel him. I could hear him. But I couldn’t see him. So my chances of getting cleaned out on a double play were pretty good.
Remy Says: Watch This
The Usual Suspects
You might think a team is always trying to pick off the fast runners, but most of the guys who get picked off are slow runners. Slower runners often try to get a bigger lead and become more vulnerable.
If you watch a second baseman during infield practice, you’ll see him execute the double play and then make a little jump. When the game is on and a runner is getting ready to nail him, his jump becomes higher.
There’s a picture of me when I was with the Red Sox kind of levitating above second base as I make the pivot to throw to first base on a double play. I see pictures like that and I say, “How the hell did I get in that spot?” I didn’t know how high I would jump. I guess it depended on how high I had to get. The idea is to get out of the way of the guy trying to take you out.
As the second baseman, I knew who was on first base and his reputation. I knew if he could run. And I knew if the base runner was someone who loves taking out middle infielders or if he was a guy who was just going to slide in.
A successful second baseman can tell right off the bat how the ball is hit, whether the shortstop or third baseman is going to move for it, and whether he’ll be able to turn a double play. He’s done it so much that he knows, “I can turn this one” or “This one is going to be tough” or “I can’t turn this one.”
There are some times he’s going to think: “With the way this ball is hit and the speed of the batter running to first base, we’re not going to get him. So I had better eat it, or I may end up making a bad throw and giving up a run.”
The third baseman can sometimes cause problems for the second baseman when he’s throwing the ball to second base. Infielders prefer a low throw, but they’ve got to watch out for a sinker ball that can tail in toward the runner. If the ball comes in low, the second baseman can jump up and make the double play. That’s better than reaching up for the ball, which makes him pretty vulnerable to the oncoming runner.
In today’s game there are many more rules than there used to be to protect the second baseman and shortstop. Years ago the runner could do just about anything: He could go get the fielder in the outfield grass if he wanted or throw a body block. Now the umpire can make an interference call if a runner runs or slides far away from the base.
That doesn’t mean a runner won’t still try to come at a second baseman on purpose. Let’s say a runner is coming in on a second baseman or shortstop that he feels he can intimidate. It’s the first game of a home stand, and the runner cleans him out. This might screw up that infielder for the whole series. On any play that’s close, he may be a little anxious, and he may drop the ball or make a bad throw.
There are some situations when the second baseman expects a hard slide. For example, if there are runners on first and third with one out, the base runner is supposed to clean out the second baseman in hopes he makes a bad throw, letting the run score.
When I played I knew there were some guys coming to get me. It was their job not to allow the second baseman to turn the double play. I was very aware of them when they got on at first base, and I found myself hoping the batter would hit a nice grounder right at the shortstop, so that I could get that nice underhand flip. The goal was to turn the double play and get out of Dodge.
If a runner gets the second baseman cleanly, there’s nothing the second baseman can do about it. If he gets him dirty, that’s a whole different story. A dirty play involves the runner coming in spikes high, sliding late, sliding when he can’t tag the bag, or laying a rolling block on the fielder. The second baseman’s first instinct is, “I’ve got to make this double play.” So he’ll throw around the runner and that generally causes a bad throw.
A runner might make a mistake once in a while, but he won’t make that mistake a second time because he knows the next time he comes in, the second baseman may throw the ball right at his chest to make him slide. I’d tell the runner, “Make sure you get down next time.” And then, if the game situation allowed, I had to hit him if he didn’t get out of the way.
“I think Remy has the three things that are necessary to be . . . a great player: talent, aptitude, and he’s coachable as hell. When he arrived in the majors, he just didn’t know how to make the double play. Now nobody makes [the pivot] any better. Nobody.”
CALIFORNIA ANGELS COACH GROVER RESINGER, 1976
Another way to get back is through the pitcher, who can drill a batter when it doesn’t mean anything in the game. Pitchers would call me over and ask, “Did he try to get you?” But you’ve got to pick the right spot in the game to retaliate. It could be the next game. It could be two games after that. Whenever it comes, the opposing player will know it’s payback.
Some fans think infielders can be way off the bag and still get an out call from the umpire. It’s usually not as drastic as many people think. If you slow things down on a replay, you’ll often see that when the infielder caught the ball he was coming off the bag. You could call that a neighborhood play because he was not in contact with the bag, but it’s not so far that it makes a difference in the play.
I can honestly say that I got away with a neighborhood play a few times. It’s got to be pretty flagrant for the umpire to call the runner safe. The umpire may let an infielder get away with one, and say to him, “Give me a better effort next time.”
It’s important to keep a runner on second base close to the bag, maybe even more so than at first base because at second base he is in scoring position.
The catcher is looking right out at second base, but the pitcher is facing toward home plate. Making a pickoff attempt at second base usually requires precise timing and coordination among the infielders.
Often, one of the infielders gives a sign to the pitcher, who is supposed to acknowledge with some kind of swipe or movement of the glove. It’s a timing play after that. The pitcher goes into his stretch, and when he looks in a particular direction, the second baseman or the shortstop breaks for the bag and the pitcher throws the ball to him.
The catcher can also initiate the play; the catcher would make as if he was calling the pitch and put down five fingers, let’s say, to call a pickoff play. And then he would show two fingers to indicate second base. The pitcher goes into his stretch, and when the catcher sees the second baseman break toward the bag, he drops his glove—that’s when the pitcher turns and throws.
And then there is the straight daylight play. The second baseman or the shortstop comes in behind the runner and makes a break to second base; if the pitcher sees daylight between the fielder and the runner, he will turn and throw. If not, he has to step off the rubber and not make the pitch because now there’s nobody in position at second base or shortstop.
The game situation is sometimes affected by the stadium. In Boston, for example, left field is very shallow with the Green Monster out there; you’ll see many runners on visiting teams trying to get a bigger lead at second base in hopes of scoring on a base hit. If there’s a slow lug on base, there’s a pretty good chance of picking him off.
One fun thing for an infielder to try to do is to “deke” a runner into unnecessarily sliding, stopping short, or getting caught by a double-play throw to the base behind him. This can happen when a player is running on a pitch and the batter hits the ball in the air. Often when a guy is running, he doesn’t know where the ball is going. So if the ball is in the air, the second baseman and shortstop try to act like a ground ball is coming to them and they’re going to make a double play. (The runner, of course, is supposed to look to the third-base coach for help, but sometimes they don’t have time to do that.)
“Buy a steak for a player on another club after the game, but don’t even speak to him on the field. Get out there and beat them to death.”
LEO “THE LIP” DUROCHER, HALL OF FAME MANAGER OF THE BROOKLYN DODGERS, NEW YORK GIANTS, CHICAGO CUBS, AND HOUSTON ASTROS
One fielder will act as if he’s going to go down to get a ground ball and make a feed, and the other guy goes to the bag. What he’s trying to do is to get the runner to slide to slow him down and perhaps keep him from going to third base. And if an outfielder makes the catch, he may be able to double up the runner at first base.
It works sometimes. When it does happen, it’s a lot of fun.