CWS Defensive Strategies

[Hornible]

Traditional wise baseball strategy has the third baseman "guarding the line" late in a ball game. It is better to give up a single through the middle than risk extra bases down the line.

With the new bats, I accept that outfielders are playing "in" and relying on their ability to chase down deep fly balls.

My advice: Late in a tied or one run game, with no runners on base, the outfield defense should play deeper on those batters that are capable of hitting it deep. Similar to the third base strategy, it would be better to have a single drop in front of a deep outfield than risking extra bases with a shot deep over their heads.

In this CWS alone, it was the difference in our loss to UCI and last night by TCU to UVA.

 

[Orangeblood]

It's not as much the bats, as it's the wind.

Yes, most parks across the country have seen a downturn in HRs, but that was needed. If this park had been aligned with the prevailing June winds (like Rosenblatt was), there would be a reasonable amount of dingers. Instead, they set it up with the big June winds blowing straight in from center. Even using the old bats wouldn't help much into a 30mph wind.

 

[salonghorn-70]

Orangeblood, do you know why the park was set up to have the winds blowing in? Was it a deliberate decision? Or was it just a by product of the way they wanted to design the park?