Who are the players with great instincts for the game?

[Mattingly]

Not just sheer muscle and beautiful swings, but the infielder who knows that right away, the only way to get that speed demon hustling to 1B is to charge the ball, and so he does, rather than waiting for it to get to him.

It could also be the guy who doesn't have the best athletic skills, but knows exactly how to play the ball caroming off the back wall and limit the hitter to a single. Or he could throw to 2B instead of 3B, forcing corner runners (and setting up the GIDP), rather than trying to over-exert himself throwing to 3B, on a play he'd never get anyway.

For baserunning, it could be guys who look over their shoulders, see that the ball has either taken a bad hop or that the fielder has misplayed it, so he takes an extra base. He could even catch a guy by surprise, since the fielder may not even expect the runner to challenge his arm.

I'm curious, who are these guys who are risk takers, make the right decisions, know when a bunt is great, and can usually be relied upon to advance runners on said bunt to the 1B line?

Any and all examples are greatly appreciated!

[Atlanta Braves Freak]

Marcus Giles comes to mind, he's a small guy and makes up for his lack of size with a huge heart, you never see him complain and he gives 110% everytime.

[ReignInBlood]

Probably Dave Roberts.

[Astro]

Look for veterans who are getting older and dont exactly excel at the plate

Brad Ausmus could be the best pitch caller in baseball
Julio Franco is bout 95 years old now and still playing, so he must be doing something right
Ryan Freel and Chone Figgins can play almost any position with great effectiveness

Ill come up with some more later, gettin too tired to think

[VTSoxFan]

Probably Dave Roberts.

I was going to say Dave Roberts; you beat me to the punch. I'd seen good base-stealers before (Rickey comes to mind) but in more recent memory, I think he's the best I've seen at that particular cat-and-mouse game. Bouncing and feinting and tempting the pitcher, and getting the pitcher rattled, get his mind off the batter... yeah, he could do that.

I loved watching Pokey Reese play either midde infield postion. He was really something. Once I saw him time a leap in a rising line-drive, and seemed to jump about 9 feet in the air to catch it. Saved the game, too... wow.

[dl4060]

Derek Jeter has some of the best baseball instincts I have ever seen.

[GiambiJuice]

I rarely see Larry Walker make mistakes

[ReignInBlood]

I was going to say Dave Roberts; you beat me to the punch. I'd seen good base-stealers before (Rickey comes to mind) but in more recent memory, I think he's the best I've seen at that particular cat-and-mouse game. Bouncing and feinting and tempting the pitcher, and getting the pitcher rattled, get his mind off the batter... yeah, he could do that.

I loved watching Pokey Reese play either midde infield postion. He was really something. Once I saw him time a leap in a rising line-drive, and seemed to jump about 9 feet in the air to catch it. Saved the game, too... wow.

I've seen Dave Roberts fool fielders tons of times, making it look like he's not going to take an extra base (let's say, make a double a triple), so the fielder doesn't make a hard throw, but as Dave sees this he sprints like hell to take the extra base. Awesome

[ichiro262]

Someone already said this, but Derek Jeter. Anyone remember the play he made against Oakland in the LCS a few years back. He saw the throw from right field was going to come up short -- so he charged in front of home plate, picked it up, and flipped it to Posada to get Jeremy Giambi out at home. Doubtlessly one of the best "instinctive" plays I've ever seen. It was sick. Another group of guys that have great instincts: Ronnie Belliard: makes amazing double plays all the time; Yuniesky Betancourt: I know he's young but you guys should watch him any chance you get (made one error in 44 games at SS last year); Jim Edmonds: not a lot of speed but he seems to get to everything; and last (but certainly not least), my personal favorite, Ichiro: I once saw him play it cool on a fly ball that Garret Anderson hit to deep right with Vlad standing on second (it really looked like he was trying to trick Vlad into running). Anyway, Vlad took off when Ichiro caught it nonchalantly and Ichiro nailed him at third by three or four steps.

[Mattingly]

I was going to say Dave Roberts; you beat me to the punch. I'd seen good base-stealers before (Rickey comes to mind) but in more recent memory, I think he's the best I've seen at that particular cat-and-mouse game. Bouncing and feinting and tempting the pitcher, and getting the pitcher rattled, get his mind off the batter... yeah, he could do that.

I seem to remember a catcher who was caught in a rundown with a certain DARTH VADER team of some sort. Anyway, the Evil team's pitcher threw to the guy between 1B and 2B, so the catcher darted to 2B and was safe. Seemed like great instincts for a guy not too speedy.

Gee, I wonder what that guy's name was, anyway.

[chisox2k5]

[Mattingly]

ohhhhhhh-kayyyyyyyyyyyyyy.



*checks to see if wcoab has secretly hijacked chisox73's computer*

[Jake83]

I am surprise someone has said Darin Erstad yet. The guy gets by on pure guts and determination.

[Perseas]

I think that when it comes to outfield defense, you have to put Andruw Jones in that category... His positioning and reading of the ball off the bat is amazing. That's the reason you don't see him make "spectacular" plays all that often. He knows where to stand, he reads the ball well and has complete awareness every single moment in the game... Which is, if I may say so, a huge contrast from his offensive profile...