Brent Mayne

Yes, I Gave A Pitch Away

Thinking about great defensive 1st basemen led me to write the last blog about JT Snow, but it also jarred my memory to another event that happened early in my career. I might take a bunch of crap for admitting this, but since coming clean has become the cool thing to do, I figure I’ll jump on the bandwagon.

All kidding aside, (and I don’t feel too comfortable saying this) there was ONE instance in all my years of catching where I gave away a pitch to a hitter. In other words, I told the hitter what was coming. And that instance was JT Snow’s first big league at-bat.

JT may not remember, and for all I know, he may not have heard me. I don’t recall either of us rehashing the event to confirm that he did. But I did tell him, and here’s how I remember the details.

It was my second year in the Bigs and we were playing the Yankees in Kansas City towards the end of the season. Neither team had much to play for and JT was one of the expanded roster call-ups for the Yanks. Now, let me preface this story by telling you that JT and I played against, and with, each other on many teams growing up. From Connie Mack, to college ball, to the pros. He was a great teammate, a great competitor, and a fun guy to play against and with. In short, I really wanted to see him do well.

Anyway, it’s towards the end of the game, and lo and behold, up steps JT Snow as a pinch hitter. Holy cow, what a surreal event. I remember thinking it seemed like just yesterday we were playing at Blair Field in Long Beach in a Connie Mack league, and here we were messing around in Royals stadium! Pretty cool for two So Cal boys.

So as he’s nervously getting into the box, I wandered out to talk to the pitcher (I can’t remember who it was.) On my way back, as I past JT to squat down, I mumbled at him “fastball outside.” He promptly drilled a double to left field and that was that. Like I said, that’s probably not why he got his first hit, he may have been too nervous to even hear me. Then again, maybe that IS how he got his first hit and maybe I’M responsible for his whole career.

Like I said, this was the ONLY time this ever happened. Even if I’d wanted to, I was much too scared. I envisioned myself telling the hitter what was coming and then him hitting a rocket off the pitcher’s forehead. I just couldn’t have lived with that scenario. I would’ve felt like I personally killed a pitcher. Over the years, I had other catchers tell me they’d had instances where they told the hitter what was coming. Always in a last ditch effort to get a guy out who was hitting everything. Kind of like, screw it, he’s hitting everything anyway, let’s see what happens when I TELL his what’s coming.

I realize this admission might just keep me out of the Hall of Fame. And if that’s the case, FINE. I didn’t want to go into that crappy place anyway. If my stats and service to the game aren’t enough for the writers then screw em’. At least I can finally sleep with a clear conscious. I’m like The Jerk. All I need is my family and my surfboard and my cell phone and those glasses and…so there.

Navin from The Jerk with all he needs.

Sweet Fielding First Basemen

Somewhere I stumbled on an article about the defensive prowess of Casey Kotchman. It probably came from Buster Olney’s baseball insider blog. Anyway, that got me to thinking about how important (and what a pleasure) it is to have a great defensive first basemen.

It’s funny because until you’ve played with one, you really don’t know what you’re missing. Like most folks, I perceived first as the easiest of all infield positions and the place you put the guy who couldn’t play anywhere else. Then along comes a guy like Kotchman…or for me, JT Snow or Rex Peters.

JT was the best I one bagger I ever played with at any level. He won six gold gloves and saved about a billion throwing errors from infielders who couldn’t feel their hands in the freezing cold of Candlestick Park. He had amazing range, was fearless, graceful, and innovative…I’d venture to say he’s the best to ever play the position.

Despite the fact he’s probably the greatest 1st baseman ever, JT will probably be best remembered as the guy who saved 3 year old batboy Darren Baker from collision at home plate during game 5 of the 2002 World Series.

Whoa, that was close. JT saves Darren Baker.

Prior to JT, I had the pleasure of playing college ball with another great 1st basemen named Rex Peters. Rex never made it to the show, but played a number of years in the minor leagues and since 2002 has been the head coach at UC Davis. Rex, just like JT, made the position look real easy. And in a weird twist, Rex was actually married to JT’s sister Michelle.

UC Davis head coach (and slick fielding 1st baseman in his day) Rex Peters.

Both of them were outstanding athletes, but the thing that stood out in my mind was their focus and ability to anticipate action. It’s the same quality that I’m always harping on catchers to cultivate. Anticipation. Seeing all the possibilities before they happen. All for now…..be well.

The Crack of the Bat

I was at Orange Coast College a few days ago helping out their catchers. I hung out for a bit afterwards and watched some batting practice. Most of the guys were hitting with aluminum, but there were a few slugging it out with wood.

Aside from the aesthetics of the wood bat sound vs. the metal sound, I realized as I was watching (and listening) that I was having big problems “hearing” where the ball was going. How do I better explain? Put it this way…if I shut my eyes and just listened, I could tell you from the sound of wood hitting ball, where the ball was going. If it was pulled, popped up, driven on a line, grounded somewhere, etc. I think I could be accurate about 99 percent of the time.

With the metal ping, I couldn’t be as accurate. That got me thinking about defensive jumps and reaction time. If you can’t accurately hear where the ball is going, how does that effect range? Now maybe it’s just because I haven’t been around metal bats for a long while. Maybe metal bats do have the same minuet tonal differences as wood. But, maybe not.

Maybe I’m overreacting. I never really talked to a pro player about this subject. Maybe I’ve become unusually sensitive to the sounds of bat and ball because I’ve been so close to the action and heard about 8 billion balls/bat collisions. That being said, I have a suspicion that defensive players rely on sound to enhance their reactions.

I know for sure that guys use it in the dugout during a game or in pre game batting practice. In the dugout, there’s a lot of times where you might be locked in conversation or playing a prank on someone or just might have your back turned to the action. Then the hitter makes contact and you instinctively duck or move in a certain direction and sure enough, the ball would just miss knocking your head off.

Or during batting practice when you’re shagging and there’s balls flying everywhere. You hear contact and move/react accordingly and avoid disaster…without ever seeing the ball. I’ll have to look into this more. Maybe this is part of the reason guys like Omar Visquel have such great range and instincts. Maybe they’re reacting to sound before they ever see the ball?