Max Goione Play Analysis

"Catch the ball," he said. "That's just routine plays that we have to make. The biggest emphasis is just catching the ball, no matter what the conditions are we have to make that play."

Throughout the history of major league baseball we have seen countless astonishing hitters come pass through, some putting up record breaking numbers, at times too good to be true. Barry Bonds, known as the “homerun king” was able to put up an amazing total of 73 home runs in 2001. The very next season, he continued to present his skill with a .370 batting average. Between 1999 and 2007, Bonds’ stats were shocking, hitting 351 home runs, winning four national league MVP awards, and racking up 780 RBI’s, 69 stolen bases, and just over one thousand hits. Alex Rodriguez, better known as “A-rod” is another huge name when talking about the greatest hitters in baseball. For nine seasons out of Rodriguez’s twenty two season career, 8.5% of the balls he would put into play were home runs. By the end of his lengthy career, he was able to collect 698 home runs, over two thousand RBI’s and runs scored, with over three thousand hits. He was also named All-Star fourteen times. With numbers like these, it is hard to

In the game of baseball more than any other sport, you really have to focus and think about what you’re doing on every single play. Of course there are parts of the game that become somewhat natural, but baseball is a game of fundamentals. You have to always be on top of your game and one step ahead of the curve, no pun intended. Every play contains different situations, which call for you to do an assortment of different things. You have to be thinking of what it is you’re going to do if the ball is hit to you, and what you do if hit to any of the other eight of your teammates on the field. Have you ever felt on top of your game, but for some odd reason you just couldn’t focus and preform at the best ability that you know you’re capable of? That’s what happens many times in baseball. You really have to focus and know what you’re doing wrong, and what adjustments to make to fix it. More than all other sports one little odd or unusual thing you start doing or change in your mechanics has a huge effect on the amount of production and performance out on that diamond. While hitting, throwing, or catching the ball, the simple extra movement or step you’re taking can cause a hundredth of a second difference in your throw, swing, or pitch, but this game is a game of seconds and that slight movement is the difference between a homerun or a ground ball, an amazing play in the field and an error, a strikeout or a ball

Baseball statistics are meant to be a representation of a player’s talent. Since baseball’s inception around the mid-19th century, statistics have been used to interpret the talent level of any given player, however, the statistics that have been traditionally used to define talent are often times misleading. At a fundamental level, baseball, like any game, is about winning. To win games, teams have to score runs; to score runs, players have to get on base any way they can. All the while, the pitcher and the defense are supposed to prevent runs from scoring. As simplistic as this view sounds, the statistics being used to evaluate individual players were extremely flawed. In an attempt to develop more

     It was a warm, sultry night in September. The fans were crazed in anticipation as Mark McGwire stepped to the plate. With a gentle stretch, he paused, patiently poised, waiting for what would eventually be the greatest hit baseball had ever seen. The pitcher, Steve Trachsel, came set. He shot a determined look to the dirt. In a rivalry such as this (Cubs, Cardinals) he did not want to be the one to give up the great number 62. He cocked his arm back, to let loose what would be an eighty-eight mile an hour fastball that most men would not see fly by, but Big Mac was not most men. With one mighty swing, sixty-one was no more, ney sayers were silenced, and the game

In my previous years I hadn’t been as committed to my development as I should’ve, and now wish I had been. I made a vow to myself after that game to get serious. It was time to step up as a leader on the team, and show everyone that I had it in me to be great. I couldn’t suffer another season like the past three: promising signs throughout the entire regular season, but continuous disappointment in the postseason.

“I knew he had to throw me a good pitch with a 3-1 count.” Ashline said, “I got my pitch and wanted to put it in play, because I knew he could score if it reached the outfield.

Wednesday, March 1, was the 3rd game of the Chino Hills Varsity Baseball season. In this game, versus West Covina, Jacob Hobson took the mound in search of increasing Chino Hills’ record to 2-1. Jacob Hobson was excellent in his pitching performance on Wednesday by going to four innings, allowing no runs, two hits, and striking out 3 hitters. All three of Hobson’s strikeouts were on curve balls and had West Covina’s hitters out in front all game. Jacob Hobson was so successful in his start due to his mixing of speeds between his fastball, curveball, and change-up. The offense for Chino Hills was phenomenal by racking up eight runs on ten hits to give Jacob Hobson the win. The offensive star of the game was Gavin Woodward who went 4-4 with a

Jeff Karpell was a standout outfielder for the Fairleigh Dickinson baseball program. His freshman campaign he posted the longest hit streak by reaching base safely in seven consecutive games. Karpell also led all freshmen in hitting with a .313 batting average. Karpell really stood out as a sophomore earning All-Northeast Conference honors with a .337 average, which put him 3rd on the team and 9th in the NEC. During his senior season Karpell threw out 9 base runners, which is good enough to put him first for most single season outfield assists. Karpell’s efforts are still shown in the FDU record books where he ranks: 7th in single season hits (64), 7th in triples (4), 3rd in runs batted in (59). Along with his single season achievements Karpell is also 7th in career batting average (.343), 7th in at bats (571), 5th in hits (196), 3rd in triples (9), and 2nd in RBIs (145).

He has a .315 BABIP when putting pitches in the strike zone into play, while having a .442 BABIP against pitches out of the strike zone. Even more interesting, despite the fact that Schoop has more production hitting pitches out of the strike zone than in the strike zone, he has a 6.3% chance of hitting a home run when hitting a pitch in the strike zone compared to a 4.4% chance of hitting a home run when the pitch is out of the strike zone. Likewise, he has an 8.5% chance of hitting a double when hitting a pitch in the strike zone and an 5.2% chance when the pitch is out of the strike zone. It seems that he has had extreme success hitting singles, but only singles, against pitches out of the strike zone as he has a 33.3% chance of hitting a single on a pitch out of the strike zone compared to a 21% chance when the pitch is in the strike

At the end of the eighth inning we pick up the game with Kansas City leading the Minnesota Twins one to zero. Steve, sitting on the bench in the corner with a towel over his head in the Kansas City Royals dugout as his team is batting in the eighth inning, has thoughts that go back to his Little League days when his father Joe Ballard would say. “Don’t worry about the batter, play pitch and catch with the catcher. That’s how to win a game from the pitcher’s mound.”

“I've grown a lot as a player, as a person, and in everything else since the spring game,” Sills said. “I think we had a great summer. I think we really got good timing in together, all the receivers really. We worked really hard in the weight room, on the field. I think the summer was great. Coach Carrier helped me with a lot over the summer and during fall camp with technique and how to become a better receiver. It's really transferred over. We've done a lot of film study, just watching one-on-one's and stuff like that. We've looked at different ways to make your game better and I think that's transferred over onto the field. So, I'm happy with

Derek Jeter’s fielding performance was among the best in the history of baseball. Jeter played for 20 years and was a lifelong shortstop for the Yankees. He had a career fielding percent of .976 which means that for every 1000 balls he was hit, he

The author also briefly puts in the story of the New York Yankees' second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who developed sports "shocking" while playing in front of thousands of fans, Knoblauch had trouble throwing the ball to first base, while stressing Knoblauch found himself reverting to explicit mode, throwing like a Little Leaguer again", as the author said in pg. 267 (last paragraph)

I was getting very nervous, because all three of us were hitless today. Okay, we need base runners, and we need them now. Don’t try to do too much, just get a hit. I thought. The first pitch was a fastball right down the middle of the plate, a perfect pitch to hit. My eyes got big, and my mind said swing, but before I could react, the ball was past me.