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Mar
16
2009
Raul Ibañez: Defensive Wizard
Posted by meech.one at 7:53 am ET 21 Comments

In the third inning of yesterday’s fake game against the Cardinals, Skip Schumaker hit a shot through the hole on the left side of the infield for what should have been a base hit. That is, until Raul squatted down to try and field it cleanly and let the ball go right through his five-hole and roll to the wall, thus allowing Skip to reach second base easily.

Behold the .gif:

It really takes a special breed of defender to let that ball zoom past you without even slowing it down.

RAUL!

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21 Comments on “Raul Ibañez: Defensive Wizard”

  1. GM-Carson Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am

    When I saw that play, I thought to myself- someone will post about this tomorrow. Thanks for not disappointing Meech.

  2. GTO--Josh Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am

    I hope this is not an omen

  3. Michelle Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 11:36 am

    Yes. Of course, no one’s saying anything about the spot-on throw home that would’ve kept the score at 1-0 if Ruiz had caught it. (Disclaimer: I do NOT dislike Ruiz. I think he’s fantastic.)

    Just sayin’. Yeah, this play worries me. But everyone was worried about Raul’s arm, and it looks like that could work out just fine.

  4. Reverend Paul Revere Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 12:02 pm

    The good news is … um, wait, I forget where I was going with this. Word on the street is Raul Ibanez makes Pat Burrell look like a pre-steroids Barry Bonds in left field.

  5. JI Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    The tradition lives on!

  6. SJ Says:
    March 16th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    He was probably checking out the Mugs ad in the background.

  7. rich Says:
    March 18th, 2009 at 12:04 am

    waaaaay too early to panic.

  8. M's Fan Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 9:45 am

    I’m a Mariners fan and have watched Ibanez for a few years. Not a great defensive player, but wait till August when he heats up. Phils fans will be happy to have him at the end of the summer.

  9. DKF Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 9:45 am

    Don’t worry folks. This is not representative of Raul’s fielding skills. As an M’s fan, I saw him make a lot of excellent plays out there.

  10. Stratman Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 9:54 am

    “This is not representative of Raul’s fielding skills.”

    You’re right, he’s actually MUCH MUCH worse!

  11. i cant stand joe morgan Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 9:55 am

    Don’t worry, he’s just trying to work a few things out.

  12. Carson Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    Ha! You guys actually managed to downgrade your left field defense!

    That’s almost as improbably as Team USA not having anyone who can play first base on their 43 man roster.

  13. don Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Hate to break it to you but Raul’s defense is horrible.

    http://i27.tinypic.com/28akex2.jpg
    http://i32.tinypic.com/6qgz12.jpg

  14. meech.one Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    don, just a heads up for future reference — you’re supposed to READ the post before commenting. kthx.

  15. Janne1720 Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/7280/BadAngle.gif

    Another one for you guys, and yes I did read the post, thinking of this exact photo.

  16. Janne1720 Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Okay, nm, I did not read the whole post as I did not realize all the pics were linked to ANOTHER post.

  17. meech.one Says:
    March 20th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    That’s okay, Janne. I don’t deduct points for not clicking.

  18. mike Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Cant wait to see what the backlash will be like in Philly when he does this in a game against the Mets

  19. bob Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 10:50 am

    doesn’t matter if you have an arm if you can’t catch/field the ball, and that throw wasn’t that great.

    he’s a solid hitter, but in terms of clutch, he’s like a granny.

  20. bseblfevr Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 11:58 am

    I am in Seattle and have seen Raul play almost every game. I on’t ever recall seeing a ball on the ground get past him…it’s the balls in the air that can be scary. But, you will never see a player work harder to improve, and he really has. He was actually good last season. His main problem is that he is slow. His best position is 1b, but he came up as a catcher. He is a gamer and is missed in Seattle.

  21. haha Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    He was good enough to cost his team 11.9 runs in the field last season, and 21 runs the previous season. I guess that’s the result of working hard.

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