Red Sox Defensive Gifs

mwonow

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Sep 4, 2005
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Wow - that was a rope. Is his arm really that good? After all, he's a second baseman playing out of position, right? ;)
 
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Koufax

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Jul 15, 2005
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Amazing that he got any sort of pop on that throw since he was sooo off-balance.
 

Ed Hillel

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Here
I thought Xander's play in the first off of the deflection was even better. I could not have been more wrong about Xander's fielding ability, he's been remarkably consistent and then some.
 

pantsparty

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May 2, 2011
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From men on second and third with one out to the inning over without a run scoring thanks to Pedroia (plus some help by Leon) and Holt (plus some help by Hanley)





Not shown was Betts cutting the ball off in right holding Dickerson to a single, against a lot of outfields he would have scored from second on Franklin's double.
 

pantsparty

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May 2, 2011
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Betts makes a semi-awkward slide, still makes the catch, and the slide causes the runner to hesitate allowing Mookie to double him off first

 

pantsparty

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Just Mookie doing Mookie things.



There's unfortunately no highlight of it, but in the 10th Mookie cut off a ball heading towards the wall and threw it in on the fly without being able to plant his feet properly, holding Tommy Joseph at 3rd. Against basically any other right fielder the runner scores and the game ends with the Phillies winning. He's always had the speed, but the way he's transformed his arm into a weapon is amazing.
 

SouthernBoSox

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Jul 23, 2005
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His ability to read a baseball immediately following contact is like nothing I've ever seen. He was just born to play that position. And his ability to read the ball probably hurts his defensive rep because he makes flashy plays just seems so easy. He's just always under the ball.
 

BaseballJones

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My dad says that Joe DiMaggio was the same exact way. Never seemed flashy or spectacular because he always read it correctly right off the crack of the bat. Brilliant fielder that makes tough catches look routine.
 

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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That catch was amazing, and so important, taking away a home run in a game that was scoreless into the 11th. I score that a +1 Win catch. :banana:
 

charlieoscar

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Sep 28, 2014
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My dad says that Joe DiMaggio was the same exact way. Never seemed flashy or spectacular because he always read it correctly right off the crack of the bat.
His brothers, Dom and Vince, were probably a bit better as center fielders. While today's methods of evaluation are not available for players of that era, if you look at their respective Range Factors, Held and Kill percentages you find:

Range Held Kill Center Field
2.74 45.3% 4.3% Vince
2.92 44.3% 2.9% Dom
2.79 42.8% 2.7% Joe