© Isaiah J. Downing | 2021 Sep 6
Two plays during Monday afternoon’s commanding victory in Coors Field resulted in outs, but they could’ve hurt the Giants much more if they panned out slightly differently.
Both involved Darin Ruf trying to handle infield pop-flies. They also included San Francisco’s franchise cornerstones, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford. In one, Ruf nearly collided with Crawford to make a catch. Later, the first baseman took out Posey’s leg trying to slide out of his way.
There was no damage in the box score. But, especially with the Posey play, they could’ve been dangerous.
Said Ruf: “I went to our training staff and I said, ‘You need to take me out of the game. Not for myself but for everybody else on the field right now. I don’t know where I’m going.’”
It’s not like Ruf was playing a foreign position at first. Though he’s set up in the outfield for 27 games, his most comfortable position — besides, perhaps, designated hitter — is first base. He’s recorded 42 games there compared to 27 in the outfield.
And, theoretically, a first baseman-outfielder hybrid should have no problem handling infield pop flies. Not so much.
"You need to take me out of the game. Not for myself, but for everybody else on the field right now."
Darin Ruf discussed his collision with Buster Posey in the bottom of the seventh inning pic.twitter.com/kBwqQI7RBv
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 6, 2021
When the 6-foot-2, 232-pound Ruf collided with Posey, it looked like the catcher’s leg bent awkwardly. Posey infamously suffered a major leg injury on a different collision — one that’s since been outlawed — and has also dealt with hip problems during his 12-year MLB career.
Ruf said he was relieved when Posey shook off the slide tackle and returned to his crouch behind the plate.
And while Ruf and Crawford avoided a head-on collision on the third inning ball, Crawford was involved with a similar play earlier in the season with Evan Longoria on a grounder, which resulted in a 60-day IL stint for the third baseman with a shoulder injury.
Miscommunication has flared up recently for the Giants beyond Ruf’s two disasters. In a 9-0 win against the Mets on Aug. 24, Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski nearly bumped hips on a routine fly out, but Dickerson recovered to make the grab. The very next game, Dickerson made a similar mistake to prolong New York’s ninth-inning comeback rally.
There have been multiple close calls since then, too, including during the Dodgers series.
“We have to do a better job on communicating on pop-ups and fly balls,” SF manager Gabe Kapler said. “Recently, we haven’t done our best work in that regard…the ball has gone up, and in defense of our players right now, we just want to catch the baseball. So sometimes you don’t want to take your eye off the baseball as a defender. Sometimes it’s important that you do look up and glance to see who’s around you. But we just have to be better, earlier communicators in general, and we’ll clean this up.”
These type of miscues can make millionaire, professional baseball players look like little leaguers. But it’s not always that easy. Especially on pop-ups to the infield, fielders have to deal with the mound as an obstacle. With players converging from several angles on a ball, assertive and early communication is required.
“It’s always scary with the mound out there, guys running over the mound to try to get to a ball,” starter Kevin Gausman said. “I think that’s why you practice it so much in the spring, pop flies in the infield, because they really are tough.”
As difficult as the plays can be, and as simple as they may look, what matters is everyone leaving Coors Field Monday without a scratch.
