Tom Murphy has become somewhat of an online sensation during baseball’s shutdown for the array of workouts the Seattle Mariners’ catcher posts on Instagram from his home in upstate New York.
While staying in shape is a priority, Murphy also is thinking ahead: As in, how the game’s strategy might need to shift if teams have to play in empty stadiums.
“It’s going to be one of those things that it’s going to add some different aspects to the game,” Murphy said.
Photo: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY
Whenever baseball returns after the delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an element that might come into play like never before: the sound of silence.
The crack of the bat and the pop of a glove might resonate with a rich, deep echo that invokes the nostalgia of the game — back to the days of playing in front of just family and friends in Little League or high school when the loudest noises were the ping of an aluminum bat and an overzealous parent.
However, a quiet ballpark also means a drastic departure for pro athletes accustomed to roaring crowds.
“It’s going to be weird, there’s no question about it. It’s going to be very weird. We’re so used to having fans in the stands,” Washington manager Davey Martinez said. “I’ve been in professional baseball since 1983. This will be a first. This will be a first for me. Even in the minor leagues, we had fans. This is new territory for a lot of us, but it’s going to be part of it, if we get started.”
The din associated with baseball is essentially a masking agent. It could be just the general murmur of the crowd engaged in normal conversation, music being pumped through the stadium audio between pitches or the wave of noise after a particularly exciting play.
In Murphy’s case, he worries about what a batter might be able to hear just inches away from where he sets up.
The subtle movement by the catcher to give the target in the right location and frame home plate is a vital piece of success for a pitcher. Murphy’s concern is that without the normal soundtrack of a stadium, will his movements be too obvious and allow batters to figure out where the pitch might be?
“That’s something that I’m sure people haven’t really thought of too much, but it’s been on my mind a lot, and just thinking about how many locations are going to be given away, it’s kind of scary for pitchers, just because that’s obviously a huge part of their game is commanding different locations without the hitter knowing,” Murphy said.
“And I definitely worry about that situation a little bit,” he said.
Still, with the expectation that games will be TV-only to start, the lack of stadium noise could be an issue. Discussions that have been unfiltered in the past — whether those involved are players on the field, the umpires or those in the dugout — might now be heard clearly.
Some of those previously R-rated conversations are going to need an editor — or a delay and a silence button.
“I think we’re going to have to be very mindful of how loud we talk and very mindful of the conversations with the umpires, because everybody is going to be able to hear it,” first-year Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton said.
Tainan TSG Hawks slugger Steven Moya, who is leading the CPBL in home runs, has withdrawn from this weekend’s All-Star Game after the unexpected death of his wife. Moya’s wife began feeling severely unwell aboard a plane that landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday evening. She was rushed to a hospital, but passed away, the Hawks said in a statement yesterday. The franchise is assisting Moya with funeral arrangements and hopes fans who were looking forward to seeing him at the All-Star Game can understand his decision to withdraw. According to Landseed Medical Clinic, whose staff attempted to save Moya’s wife,
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt yesterday backed Nick Champion de Crespigny to be the team’s “roving scavenger” after handing him a shock debut in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions Test in Brisbane. Hard man Champion de Crespigny, who spent three seasons at French side Castres before moving to the Western Force this year, is to get his chance tomorrow with first-choice blindside flanker Rob Valetini not fully fit. His elevation is an eye-opener, preferred to Tom Hooper, but Schmidt said he had no doubt about his abilities. “I keep an eye on the Top 14 having coached there many years
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after
Seattle’s Cal Raleigh defeated Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero 18-15 in Monday’s final to become the first catcher to win the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The 28-year-old switch-hitter, who leads MLB with 38 homers this season, won US$1 million by capturing the special event for sluggers at Atlanta’s Truist Park ahead of yesterday’s MLB All-Star Game. “It means the world,” Raleigh said. “I could have hit zero home runs and had just as much fun. I just can’t believe I won. It’s unbelievable.” Raleigh, who advanced from the first round by less than 25mm on a longest homer tiebreaker, had his father
RSS