You’re going to listen to loads concerning the Braves over the subsequent couple months. They’re the very best workforce in baseball, and that’s the way it goes. A few of you’re Braves followers, so attending to see extra of your favourite workforce in October will simply be yet another drop of fine information in a season stuffed as much as the brim with pleased headlines. However for these of you who’re detached or ambivalent towards the Braves, for these of you who detest them in your very core, I’ve a little bit deal with. That’s all this text is: a deal with to deliver a bit extra enjoyable to the wall-to-wall protection awaiting us all.
On Tuesday evening, Daniel Vogelbach homered to straightaway heart discipline and Michael Harris II tried to rob it. Harris tried very laborious, and I went again and watched the replay to see precisely how shut he got here to creating the play. Nonetheless, after watching just a few instances, my consideration shifted. I stored rewinding as a result of I observed that one thing was protruding of Harris’ glove and flapping just like the tongue of a golden retriever:
That’s the little positioning card that tells Harris the place to face for every batter. These cheat sheets are a small a part of the revolution in outfield positioning that has hammered BABIP league-wide during the last a number of years. Your native sports activities outlet in all probability wrote concerning the phenomenon when these playing cards began showing again in 2018, however at this level they’re outdated hat (particularly for the Yankees, who actually stored the playing cards of their hats).
Though the playing cards have been round for some time, this was the primary time I’d ever observed a participant retaining one of their glove. I began checking the tape to search out out whether or not this was a one-off, or whether or not Harris is a ordinary glove stuffer. He undoubtedly wasn’t doing this as a rookie in 2022, at the least not typically sufficient that I might spot an occasion both on Baseball Savant or in a spotlight reel, however it seems he’s been doing it because the very starting of this season. The primary time I noticed the cardboard in his glove was in Atlanta’s second sport of the season again on April 1. Right here he’s checking the cardboard only a couple weeks in the past:
As you may see, the glove is a really handy place to maintain a positioning card. Harris doesn’t must go to his again pocket or take away his hat each time he needs to verify it. The solutions are actually within the palm of his hand. Nonetheless, I don’t know he does it. I attempted strolling round my condominium tossing a ball into my glove for a pair minutes. First, I slid a folded Publish-it be aware between my palm and the leather-based. Then I attempted a enterprise card. Each of them drove me completely bananas. They moved, they received caught, they rustled, and the corners caught on my palm. I can’t think about doing one thing so irritating for half an inning, not to mention a complete season’s price of video games. I might discover it so aggravating to have one thing flapping round inside my glove and continually threatening to flee.
However right here’s the factor: Harris appears to like having issues flap round whereas he’s taking part in the outfield. That’s at the least a part of the rationale he retains the cardboard in his glove within the first place. He can’t preserve it in his pocket as a result of each again pockets are already in use:
The left pocket at all times holds his baserunning mitten. The appropriate pocket is at all times turned inside out. He’s been taking part in that method since earlier than he received known as as much as the majors. Why does Harris deliver his baserunning mitten into the sphere regardless that he has but to report a stolen base whereas taking part in protection? Why does his proper pocket must be turned inside out like he’s modeling for that Likelihood card in Monopoly the place it’s a must to pay a poor tax of $15? I don’t have a solution for you. I can’t say for sure that Harris enjoys the sensation of issues flapping each which method whereas he chases down a ball within the hole, however that’s the very best speculation I’ve received. If he doesn’t take pleasure in it, then he’s in determined want of a fanny pack.
Nonetheless, which may not be the one cause Harris stashes the cardboard in his glove. Because it seems, he’s not the one Courageous who makes use of their leather-based as cupboard space:
That’s Ronald Acuña Jr. checking his card then stashing it in his personal glove. Harris very actually discovered from the very best. Acuña began retaining the positioning card in his glove final yr, and he has continued this season. I do know I simply instructed you that retaining a card in my glove for a pair minutes drove me loopy, but when I had been a 22-year-old and Ronald Acuña Jr. instructed me to do it, I’d in all probability be taught to reside with the discomfort.
However we’re probably not in it for the why. We’re in it the how. I watched lots of clips of Acuña and Harris fielding this season. Acuña’s card appears to be sticking all the way in which out every time the ball is hit his method. Harris’ is extra enjoyable as a result of his card picks its spots. Relying on the sort of play he’s making, his positioning card variously peeks out, pokes out, and pops out of his glove, and I’m right here to let you know that it’s nearly at all times lovable. Any time I watch the Braves play protection, I now preserve an eye fixed out for the cardboard, which sometimes pops out to say hiya, then scoots again to security as shortly as potential. It’s like he’s attempting to rob residence runs with a cuckoo clock. This sport inside a sport is my present to you, the one that is caught watching the Braves whenever you’d somewhat be watching some other workforce.
The cardboard is best to identify when Harris is throwing the ball again into the infield. His glove shifts downward as he drops his proper arm, and the cardboard pops out for everybody to see as he raises his arm again up. It’s as if the cardboard is aware of that the final batter simply received out, and it may well’t wait to inform Harris the place to face for the subsequent one, just like the world’s most informative prairie canine.
Nonetheless, seeing the cardboard after the play isn’t as enjoyable as seeing it in motion. Harris’ card has an uncanny tendency to pop midway out of his glove when he’s making a spotlight reel catch. It’s laborious accountable it. For those who had been alongside for the journey when Harris was robbing a Shohei Ohtani residence run, you may want your share of the limelight as effectively:
Nonetheless, neither of these is my favourite time to catch a glimpse of the cardboard. My favourite is when Harris is securing a plain outdated fly ball or popup. On these routine performs, the cardboard tends to peek out from the heel of the glove ever so barely, like a cautious turtle. While you’re watching in actual time, it’s only a flash of white, so fast that it’s laborious to ensure that you’re even seeing it in any respect:
I might like to let you know that Harris has radically improved his protection since he began retaining an ace up his sleeve, however that’s not the case. He was already a prime 20 outfielder within the sport, and the metrics have him positioned in roughly the identical spot this yr. That is simply another reason to regulate him.