Whilst watching the Rays vs. Indians game last night, the intentional walk issued to Carlos Santana in the bottom of the 5th inning led me to question a tactical aspect of such a play. I was not internally questioning the choice made by Joe Maddon to provide a 1st base coupon to the switch-hitter, but rather the positional usage of seemingly redundant fielders during such a potentially risky event.

So here's what happened. With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, Shin-Soo Choo singles on a sneaky bunt and subsequently reaches 3rd after a wild pitch by Jeff Niemann and an erroneous throw to 2nd from John Jaso. With Choo now in scoring position, Maddon elects to intentionally walk Santana in order to face Travis Hafner. At this point Niemann had already struck out Hafner twice that night. No complaints here Mr. Maddon

Continue reading this post »