• The KillerFrogs

2019 MLB Thread

Ron Swanson

Full Member
Lucroy had already established the inside, as per the Busty Posey rule. At the very least it was an extremely poor baserunning decision. And what's with the cut? Is he trying to juke a defensive back?
Whether Lucroy had established the inside or not, he made a drastic move forward at the last second that completely impacted whether or not there was a collision.

As far as the juke, Jake was making a last-second decision to try and go around
 

Purp

Active Member
Exactly

Watch the gif. The catcher moves to the inside at the EXACT same time as Jake. When jake decided to go inside, he didn’t know the catcher was going to do the same.
I agree with you that they seem to make the decision to move at the same time. I don't think it's a dirty play to the extent that Marisnick was trying to truck him like an LB because there's no way Marisnick could have predicted Lucroy would have been in that exact spot before he planted his foot and changed directions. That said, it's an excruciatingly dumb play by him and I do think Marisnick thought his best chance to score was to dislodge the ball from the catcher.

Lucroy was never outside the baseline at any point nor did he ever move toward the inside of the baseline at any point during the play. I can easily see how neutral observers would consider it a malicious play because every part of it for the runner defies logic and reason. At no point as a runner would I look at what was happening near the plate and think I should go inside the baseline if I want to be safe and avoid a collision. Lucroy was set up with his entire body inside the diamond the whole time preparing his feet to catch and then swipe for a tag. The only movement Lucroy made was up the baseline, but still inside it the whole time. There's no way possible Marisnick could logically expect the inside half of the plate to be open for a slide based on Lucroy's positioning.

The only logical conclusion to make here is that he felt like an outside slide would still result in being thrown out so he was going to have to dislodge the ball from Lucroy in order to be safe. Based on the way both players committed to new movements simultaneously I do not believe Marisnick intended to duck his head and plow through Lucroy like a safety on a defenseless receiver. I do believe, however, he had every intention of contact at the plate like Jack Parkman.
 

Purp

Active Member
Whether Lucroy had established the inside or not, he made a drastic move forward at the last second that completely impacted whether or not there was a collision.

As far as the juke, Jake was making a last-second decision to try and go around
To clarify a part of my last post on your point here, I don't think there's any way possible Marisnick thought he could go on the inside half of the plate and avoid any collision at all even if Lucroy didn't make his last lunge up the baseline. After Marisnick inexplicably changed direction there was going to be a collision regardless; the magnitude of the collision was changed by the sudden movements at the end by each player.
 

MTfrog5

Active Member
Whether Lucroy had established the inside or not, he made a drastic move forward at the last second that completely impacted whether or not there was a collision.

As far as the juke, Jake was making a last-second decision to try and go around
But Lucroy wasn’t anything but inside the baseline so by rule he established the inside lane. Jake had a lane outside and with a throw from RF I’m not totally sure why he didn’t take advantage of going to the outside of the plate anyway. Regardless if Lucroy came forward, Jake wasn’t sliding.
 

OmniscienceFrog

Full Member
Whether Lucroy had established the inside or not, he made a drastic move forward at the last second that completely impacted whether or not there was a collision.

As far as the juke, Jake was making a last-second decision to try and go around

:rolleyes: I'm sorry, but no. The runner had plenty of wide open room going straight at the plate or to the outside. Instead his last step was directly inside straight at the catcher. He was trying to do nothing more than dislodge the throw from the catcher.
 

jake102

Active Member
Can't believe this is even a rule. Want to catch the ball and block the plate, things happen. Just let the ball go back to the pitcher and the runner have the run. Shouldn't be the runners job to determine what lane they need to move into when they have their back to the ball. Only the catcher can see both
 
Can't believe this is even a rule. Want to catch the ball and block the plate, things happen. Just let the ball go back to the pitcher and the runner have the run. Shouldn't be the runners job to determine what lane they need to move into when they have their back to the ball. Only the catcher can see both

The only time they could see both is if the throw is coming from left field. From center, the catcher might be able to see it in his periphery, depending on whether or not he's wearing the mask. From right, all the catcher can do is sense it.

I thought it was a dumb rule when they changed it a few years ago but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. I'm glad Posey made a full recovery. That hit could have easily ended his career which would have been a shame since he was the reigning rookie of the year. With as agile, athletic and creative as players are these days, those collisions really have no place in the game.
 

Purp

Active Member
Can't believe this is even a rule. Want to catch the ball and block the plate, things happen. Just let the ball go back to the pitcher and the runner have the run. Shouldn't be the runners job to determine what lane they need to move into when they have their back to the ball. Only the catcher can see both
In this particular case, however, the catcher wasn't trying to block the plate. Instead, he stood completely inside the baseline and gave away the entire plate to the runner and still got trucked. That's why there is controversy and it would be controversial even without the rule change.
 

jake102

Active Member
In this particular case, however, the catcher wasn't trying to block the plate. Instead, he stood completely inside the baseline and gave away the entire plate to the runner and still got trucked. That's why there is controversy and it would be controversial even without the rule change.

Agreed. Marisnick could have just run by on the outside without sliding and stepped on home plate. The catcher had no play. That being said - like all these things, we are analyzing after the fact in slow motion. In real time these things happen so fast.
 
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