(670 The Score) After the White Sox collapsed in the ninth inning of a 6-5 loss to the Marlins on Sunday, some questioned Chicago’s defensive alignment on the game-deciding play, when Miami outfielder Bryan De La Cruz pulled a go-ahead two-run double just inside the third-base bag. White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada made a diving attempt for the ball that was just outside his reach.
With that in mind, should Moncada have been playing closer to the line to start the play to take away the potential for a double down the line? Absolutely not in the mind of NBC Sports Chicago color analyst Steve Stone, who believes the White Sox’s standard defensive alignment on the play was proper as reliever Kendall Graveman attempted to close out the win.
“Most of those people that are saying he should’ve been closer to the line wouldn’t have been saying that before the pitch was coming, for a couple different reasons,” Stone said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Monday morning. “No. 1, you don’t anticipate a hanging slider. You anticipate a slider that is going to go where it’s thrown, which is middle-away. If a guy does pull it, he’s going to pull it maybe wide of third, to a positioned third baseman there or to a shortstop that’s in the hole looking for him to pull a little bit but not drastically. Also, if you look at that series as a group, which most of the people who think he should’ve been closer to the line might not have looked at quite as closely, De La Cruz was hitting a lot of balls to right and right-center field. A game before, he had doubled to right-center. The first at-bat of this game, he had looped a single to right field. You don’t expect him to pull the ball down the line. I understand the idea of a ‘no doubles’ set later on, but these guys spend a lot of time looking at defensive charts. You don’t really anticipate a whole lot of mistakes, especially for a guy that hadn’t given up a run in the month of May ... and so, it happens.”
Listen to Stone's full interview in the audio player above.
Listen live to 670 The Score via:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker