Pittsburgh Sports Report - Fundamentally Flawed. Lack Of Basics Surprisingly Prevalent In Major Leagues By John E. Sacco

Pittsburgh Sports Report
June 2004

Fundamentally Flawed
Lack Of Basics Surprisingly Prevalent In Major Leagues
By John E. Sacco

The most basic, fundamental aspects of the game: bunting, base running, catching fly balls, throwing to the right base, hitting cut-off men, taking signs from the third base coach, fielding routine groundballs or properly executing run downs sometime seem so difficult for big-league players.

Hardly anyone seems immune from botching a play and making the manager and his coaching staff look like they have totally forgotten to inform the team and its players of the game's fundamentals.

Nothing infuriates managers, general managers, or fans more than teams or players not being able to execute the fundamentals of the game.

From the early days of any baseball career, players are taught the basics. Yet, it seems there is a continuing deterioration of players executing these most basic fundamentals.

Players on top teams make mistakes as egregiously as those on bad teams.

Earlier this year, the Oakland Athletics, one of the better teams in baseball, had an opposing runner caught between first and second base. The A's pitcher threw to first. The first baseman, noticing a runner on third breaking for home, threw to the catcher. The ball flew over the catcher's head, allowing a certain out at home to become a run and the once "trapped like a rat" runner at first to advance. Oakland lost that game.

Ah, the Athletics are not alone.

The Atlanta Braves, winners of 12 consecutive division championships, made seven errors against Colorado earlier this season.

In recounting the game, Todd Cline of the Gwinnett Daily Post wrote, "the Braves aren't in line to be tossed any compliments, which is just as well. At this point, they'd only drop them."

Cline also wrote this of third baseman Mark DeRosa's four-error performance in the game's first four innings: ". . . the Braves should have altered the third baseman's jersey to read "eRosa" since he had long since dropped the "D" and everything else that had come his way."

What's The Problem?

Coaches in every league from tee-ball to the major leagues stress fundamentals. The question then becomes, why are so many fundamental errors made at the highest level?

George Zuraw, consultant for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and ex-assistant to Cam Bonifay in Pittsburgh, blames poor fundamentals on lack of proper minor league experience.

"Teams are rushing players to the major leagues by necessity," Zaraw says. "Guys used to have four, five, sometimes six years in the minor leagues before coming to the big leagues. .It often takes three or four years for even the good players to get their feet on the ground in the majors."

Bruce Dal Canton, who serves as pitching coach for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans - a Class A affiliate of the Braves - said it has to be complacency or lack of focus.

"In our organization, we stress the fundamentals quite a bit," said Dal Canton, who pitched for the Pirates and helped build Atlanta's vaunted pitching staff of the 1990s as the Braves' pitching coach in the late 1980s. "If you execute the fundamentals properly, you've got a chance. I've always believed if you just make the plays you are supposed to, the routine plays, everything else will take care of itself. The fundamentals are worked on. Sometimes it doesn't look that way."

It did not look that way in a handful of Pirates' games in the first two months of this season. The team hurt itself with poor base running, overthrowing cut-off men, having fielders out of position, not laying down bunts or allowing balls to drop.

It adds up - mostly to defeat.

Last month, the Pirates played error-free baseball for 57 innings. Then in the final third of the first game of a doubleheader against San Diego, the team seemed to forget how to catch the ball or that it even had to.

Craig Wilson fumbled a single into an error that allowed a runner to move up an extra base. Jose Castillo failed to turn a double play because he planted his feet instead of moving across the bag. Two more errors followed, as did a 6-3 loss.

In the first inning of the nightcap, Oliver Perez was on the verge of taking the first step to getting out of an early jam by getting Brian Giles - on a 3-0 pitch - to hit a pop foul between first and home. Catcher Humberto Cota and first baseman Daryle Ward chased the ball. Perez moved into position to help but failed to bark out instructions and the ball fell to the ground. Giles then drew a walk to load the bases. After a strikeout, Craig Wilson allowed what should have been a sacrifice fly to glance off his glove, a run scored and the bases remained loaded. The Padres totaled four runs in the inning, which led to a 7-3 victory.

In that game, thrice the Pirates had lead-off doubles and each time couldn't advance the runner to third. Jack Wilson was more to blame than the hitters in one of those cases as he was thrown out, unforced, on a comebacker to the mound.

Manager Lloyd McClendon aptly described it as: "An ugly night."

McClendon prides himself on having a team that executes. Base running gaffes, failing to get bunts down or missing signs make him seethe.

Because the Pirates lack power, McClendon has had to employ a "small ball" strategy this season. He knows his team has to play close to perfect to have a chance.

He loved it when Kris Benson, among the weakest hitting pitchers in the National League, tied a major league record earlier this season with four sacrifice bunts in a game. Benson's work offensively helped him gain a pitching victory.

As efficient as he was that day, he was as bad in a loss in Chicago in early April when he missed a squeeze sign that led to an out at home plate.

"I think we do more in the minor leagues than in the major leagues with working on fundamentals," Dal Canton said.

"It's hard to say why fundamentals aren't executed as well at that level as they should be. Some guys get a little complacent, thinking they don't have to work as hard. But it's the little things that win games. We try to pound it into them. I can't imagine an organization not stressing fundamentals."

Fundamentals Win Games

The Cincinnati Reds have been a surprise early this season. Much of the Reds' improvement is related to the execution of fundamentals: better defense, better pitching related to throwing more strikes, and making routine plays routinely.

The Texas Rangers, stuck in last place in the American League West Division for four seasons, have shown marked improvement in 2004. Why? They are playing better defense, making less errors, getting solid performance from their bullpen, getting more quality at bats and running the bases aggressively and without folly.

Fundamentally sound teams typically win more than they lose.

"There are times where we've gone over something but players will get in the exact situation during the game and do something that makes them look like they've never seen it before," Dal Canton said.

"You go over these things and hope to get them to a point where they react instinctively. But a lot of times, their minds are someplace else or they just forget. You just keep pounding it into them and hope it sinks in."

Zuraw agrees with Del Canton's assessment that the fundamentals are still being coached and stressed as they always have been. "The instruction level is as good as it can be from the high school level on up," he says. "The bottom line is that more mistakes are being made because there are more younger players in the game."

John E. Sacco has covered major league baseball for PSR since 1998. He is a former member of the Baseball Writers of America Association.