Lagares Catch-All Thread

[Edgy MD]

'Cuz he catches all. Get it?

Like this Maysian grab.

[Guest themetfairy]

Obi Juan Lagares is our only hope!

[Centerfield]

Hey guys! Did you see that? Pretty good catch right? Wait, why is no one talking about my catch? WTF?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Am I the only guy here who wanted to kill him for striking himself out in the first inning tonight? He owed us that run he saved.

[Edgy MD]

It's not gonna be like this forever. Gotta enjoy it while we can.

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[youtube:9hlqauoj]8wGPKUyUEiE[/youtube:9hlqauoj]

[Frayed Knot]

Wasn't thrilled with either of his throws last night though.
The one of what wound up being the challenge play [simmons' single scoring 82 y/o AJ Pierzynski] was an OK throw but, considering how shallow he was when he let it go, it's not a throw that should be two-hopped and certainly could have been better. Then there was the second one, the Sac Fly one where Keith pointed out how he didn't have the time to get behind it. Yeah it was EYJ tagging there so he's going to score 90+% of the time but, still, Juan's heave there was neither all that strong nor anywhere close to being on line.

I'm going to commit heresy here and state that his arm is being almost universally over-rated. He's a G-R-E-A-T CF but it's generally his aggressiveness, his routes, his speed in charging the ball, and his positioning that's making his *Good* arm look better than it is. Too many -- both within Met-dom and outside -- are looking at the assist totals or are ignoring how short his throws often are (re: the aggressive/charging thing) and letting themselves be deceived. He's also not always all that accurate.
Everything else he does out there is totally top-notch, but I'd rate his arm as merely 'above average' - maybe a 60 on the scouting 20-80 scale.

[Edgy MD]

Of course the arm is over-rated.

What has made his arm effective is getting to hits faster and getting rid of it faster.

Standing and waiting for a fly to drop into his glove, while the runner is standing on third � all things are equal but the skills, and his arm isn't all that.

But you know, this is a CATCH-ALL thread. That's content for the THROW-IN thread, should the need for one arise.

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[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

My comments about Lagares should be reserved for the STRIKE-THROUGH thread.

Geez.

[Ceetar]

Agree on his arm, but on the second throw yesterday you could sorta tell that he was thinking about backtracking, even took a step back before realizing he didn't have time to do that. So at least it's on his mind to do that. So often you see guys just stand there waiting for it.

I'll live with the 'playing too shallow' thing that Keith was griping about a little. He's shown it's not too shallow because he can still get to the wall, and this, in the long run, probably saves more soft liners that would fall in front of someone playing deeper.

[Edgy MD]

I'm all about shallow outfield play. I think Keith is too. Get to the stuff in front of you, and anything that gets over your head is between the pitcher and the batter, but you don't want him reaching safely on junk. It's just, that play was the downside of playing shallow.

Nonetheless, Young's wheels vs. Laggy's arm, everybody starting from zero, my bet is on EY every time. The real sin was the curve ball down and in that Young tattooed for a triple. Too much plate. I think by now we all know that you throw that guy heat high and away.

[Frayed Knot]

And Keith wasn't criticizing Juan's penchant for playing shallow, he was merely saying that there's sometimes a trade-off for it and that particular play was one of those times.
I think EYJ makes it 99+% of the time on that depth of fly ball so I'm certainly not blame JL for not getting him only that the throw was neither strong nor on line and so it immediately removed any chance at nailing him.
It was on the earlier play where I was disappointed. I'd rate that one as a *Should Have* more often than not but Plawecki had to move in front of the plate in order to grab it before it bounce a second time and that made the difference between out and safe. From where he threw it that throw should have been better.

[Frayed Knot]

�I have no idea how I made that catch� -- Lagares on the 4/22 grab

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Ceetar wrote: Agree on his arm, but on the second throw yesterday you could sorta tell that he was thinking about backtracking, even took a step back before realizing he didn't have time to do that. So at least it's on his mind to do that. So often you see guys just stand there waiting for it.

I'll go further, and say that-- generally-- at least half of his "great arm" is from body-positioning/anticipation; when that's not all in-line, the throws lack a little zest. The accuracy is pretty consistently dead-on, though (even on off-throws like the EY attempt).

[batmagadanleadoff]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ceetar wrote: Agree on his arm, but on the second throw yesterday you could sorta tell that he was thinking about backtracking, even took a step back before realizing he didn't have time to do that. So at least it's on his mind to do that. So often you see guys just stand there waiting for it. I'll go further, and say that-- generally-- at least half of his "great arm" is from body-positioning/anticipation; when that's not all in-line, the throws lack a little zest. The accuracy is pretty consistently dead-on, though (even on off-throws like the EY attempt).

Agree. He's really good at charging the ball and getting extra momentum on his throws that way --- using his body.