Ian Kinsler plays 2B for the Detroit Tigers and he has played at a top tier level for 10 years. Guy is an amazing defender, a solid presence at the plate and a 4 time All-Star. You can now list him as ‘Oh my gawd Genius’ as well.
Lets set the stage, Houston Astros are up to bat, Colby Rasmus is on first base, and Tyler White is up to bat. Tyler White hits a towering popup that doesn’t leave the infield. Kinsler being a great infielder is under the ball in a snap and looks like it’s going to be an easy out. Hold your horses, Ian miss plays the popup and it lands on the ground making it an infield hit. Kinsler then picks it up and tosses it to second base for the force out of Rasmus.
Wait… Kinsler missed a popup my 10 year old could catch? Lets watch and see
Ian didn’t miss that ball, he totally let it drop. Why would he do this? Rasmus is an Outfielder, which means he can run. He has had many stolen bases in his career so he is a definite threat on the base pads. White is a rookie playing first base and he’s overall bigger then Rasmus and not nearly as fast. Could it be that Kinsler let the ball drop so that he could get the lead runner of Rasmus off the bases? Umm.. Yes it could and it was. There was no error as Kinsler never touched the ball and it was not a infield fly. Kinsler looks to have done this purely to get Rasmus off the bases and deal with the slower and less likely to steal Tyler White.
Genius… pure genius.
60 Rows Up and Behind a Pole 