Phillies

Odubel’s Base-Running Brain Fart

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 2nd, 2018 · 11:23 AM EDT

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I enjoy Gabe Kapler’s weekly phone call with Angelo Cataldi.

Not sure why. It seems like Angelo puts aside the goofy radio shtick for ten minutes to just talk baseball. Kapler answers everything pretty fairly and doesn’t dodge.

One of the topics they discussed this morning was Odubel Herrera’s Monday night base-running error that resulted in an atrocious double play.

Behold:

Odubel Herrera has a baseball IQ of a 5 year old. pic.twitter.com/KmicLgh04A

— Doug Marsico🔥 (@DougMarsico) July 31, 2018

“Oh my goodness, they ran right into a double play.”

Yeah, Herrera could have held at second, but Kapler wanted him to go to third on that play. The issue wasn’t the decision making, but the lack of a slide:

“It’s a really simple play. Rhys gets into a rundown, and he gets into a rundown for a reason. It’s to get Odubel to third base. Odubel’s job in that situation is to recognize what Rhys is doing and get to third base, then give a good hard slide into the bag, maybe avoid the tag. That’s the long and short of it.”

The manager spoke with Herrera about the play:

“He took full responsibility immediately. He understood the situation. He vowed to improve.”

Kapler also said that Herrera’s Tuesday night absence from the lineup had nothing to do with the base running error. He says the night off was planned well in advance:

“I’ll keep it simple – zero connection whatsoever. We plan off days for everyday guys, so the guys who play regularly, we plan them in advance. I don’t have one lineup planned for tonight’s game. I’ve got all the way through the Miami series, and I’ll probably be looking at guys who need a blow right after tonight’s game. So no, one thing has nothing to do with the other.”

Audio: