To take the mood of camp one step further, Trey Hillman, yesterday, said he wants to focus on fundemental baseball this year, starting now in Spring Training. To every fan of the game, this translates to small ball. Every team in the Majors can hit home runs, or clear the bases off a solid triple hit to the corner in right feild, providing 3 RBI’s. It’s the teams that have a relatively high OBP, creatively move those guys around the bases, and manufacture runs, that are typically left in October.
As a baseball purist, I cannot think of anything else I would rather hear from our skipper. This simple attitude change is a much welcome manipulation of the reality that the Royals face. They are playing in, without question, the best division in baseball this year. The only logical way to approach the teams that are our divisional rivals, is to come up with a gameplan and mindset different from that of previous years (where they have found themselves fighting to stay out of the basement). Manufacturing runs, first of all, deals primarily with the team’s OBP. In order to move them around the bases they must first be on base. Simple concept, really, relying then on fundemental mechanics to bunt, and/or hit, and/or hit and run, and/or steal your player around the bases, creating scoring oppurtunities that have escaped the Royals in years past.
I will be the first to admit that it may look a little different this year on the base paths. Players are going to be moving a lot more than we are used to seeing. With that comes silly looking outs and brain-dead base running that might be seen on ESPN’s “NOT TOP 10.” But that is ok! It is going to take some time to get used to this way of playing baseball. A “hit and run” may have been signed in from the dugout, misinterupted, and one guy is swinging, and the other is NOT running. Normally, in the American League, we have the DH. That usually dictates disregarding the concepts of small ball, and rely more on the long ball. Admittedly this makes for a more exciting offensive game, with more runs scored, but it does not neccessarily make for a better baseball game. This answer would vary according to who you asked, purists or sensationalists. Thus the continuing debate over “DH or no DH.” I will leave this decision up to you. Got DH?