It's the first baseman's fault for not catching all squatty.
Are you talking about throwing the pickoff past the first baseperson? It seems to me that that doesn't happen that often, compared to the number of throws to first, and that anyway it's not that surprising that they miss it since unlike the pitch the pickoff move has to be done quick-like so as not to lose the element of surprise. (Note: I am not actually watching baseball. That might help.)
I'm talking about fielding a ball, and throwing the runner out at first.
I regret writing "catching all squatty". For one thing, you agreed with me, I suppose just to squelch the customary bickering. Second, the sound of it recalls the camp song that goes "wattle-ee-atcha". That song is aural frog splat.
Could it be that when they pitch they're always throwing the same distance and direction, but throws to first base can be from all over the field? Or maybe they're lazy-ass bastards. Who was it?
Maybe it's because the pitcher is fielding from a much shorter distance (than other fielders), and so has less time to mentally prepare for the whole catch-turn-throw thing, and thus fucks it up, especially under pressure.
We're supposed to read the posts now?
Just as, I'm sure, you don't mind if your students skip lecture and still do well on essays and exams, I don't mind if you skip the posts, and still leave good comments.
The best way to understand the blog is to read the comments first, and then go back and read the post.
So, ogged, are you going to get the Simmons' book?
A simple explanation is that pitchers do not naturally throw straight. Any pitch without movement is likely to get hammered. Fielders throw straight, pitchers throw straight-but-then-something-happens, trying to make the batter understand too late.
Also note that fielders regularly throw from a moving state, pitchers pitch from a fixed position.
Also note that first basemen are typically the worst athletes on the field. Catcher is the highest-skill position after pitcher and short.
Perhaps, Timbot, perhaps, but I fear it will be long on baseball; my next read, I believe, will be Joan Didion's new book.
Those are good explanations (but not excuses!) rilkefan, except for the bit about first basemen, because most of the throws I see go awry go awry by about ten feet.
I think there's also an emotional component to this. Pitching, at least in a semi-close game, is really stressful. Even the worst major league hitter can hit a truly bad pitch 500 feet. And a really, really, really bad pitch can kill the batter. So I think that once a pitcher lets go of the ball, and the hitter hits it, and it looks like it's an out, the pitcher relaxes, and that this happens even when it looks like an out because it was hit to the pitcher. The result is that the pitcher is throwing the ball to first without the requisite focus and emotional intensity. That's my theory, at least.
I agree about the reading-posts thing. It's more fun to start at the bottom of the comments and read upward.
No one really reads the links, do they?
Not many people click the links, no. I do use this tracking doohicky, and on an average day, about 50-100 people will click the featured links. Links to semi-clad pictures of profgrrrrl will get about 250 clicks.
Rilkefan's explanation seems great. An addition: Fielding a potential bunt single as a pitcher might be one of the hardest plays in baseball, on account of the quickness of it all. Before the pitcher has even finished his follow-through the ball is coming back toward him -- but it's not coming toward him, it's passing him 15 feet to the right or dribbling down the basepath. He's got to get to the ball; barehand it while sprinting; stop on a dime; spin somewhere between 90 and, oh, maybe 200 degrees; and hurl the ball toward an area of about seven cubic feet that's all the way across the diamond. And the whole (short) time, he's wondering "did Furcal lead the league in steals this year? Man, it should be illegal to be that fast. No, wasn't it Juan Pierre? I know there's someone I'm forgetting about. Oh, right, it was -- shit, the ball's in right field."
I only watch the game, so that's all a guess. What I can't figure out is why the overshift works so darn well.
I'd be shocked if pitchers still worry about killing batters, since Carl Mays killed Ray Chapman before the invention of the batting helmet. I don't know what the actual frequency of pitcher throwing errors to first relative to second basemen throwing errors to first is, do you? Pick five random starting pitchers who have pitched thirty to thirty-five games this year, if there errors are 1/5 or less of the 2nd basemen's throwing errors, why is there anything odder to this than the bare statement that baseball players make stupid errors?
If anything, pitchers aren't as good as figuring out the relative speed with which they have to deliver the throw as they are throwing at a stationary target (batter at plate). But really, it's laziness. Some practice. Some don't. Some win more because of it.
But if it's so hard for a pitcher to throw a straight throw because they're always throwing curvy pitches, why shouldn't the 1st baseman, who is expected to be among the best hitters on the team, be more skilled at catching balls that could potentially go anywhere? Why is there so little correlation expected between the ability to hit a pitch and the ability to catch a throw? If I had pitchers that couldn't figure out how to throw it nice and easy to first, I'd appeal to my first baseman's ego: "Hey, you sure can hit those breaking pitches. And a bat's a lot smaller than a glove. Have some pride. Learn how to catch those terrible throws!"
First off, pitchers, even starting pitchers, get less than 1/4 the playing time of their teamates.
Second, the mechanics for the throw to first are awful, especially for a left handed pitcher, of which I was one. Imagine charging the ball towards home, and then having to turn 5/8 of the way around to get your body in the position to face first base and make the throw. Sure, you could pivot 3/8 of a revolution counter-clockwise, but then your body is moving in the wrong direction for the throw. Lefties pivot clockwise when they throw, and you are taught to always turn clockwise as a lefty. The opposite for righties, of course.
Righties only have to turn 3/8 of a revolution, but anything more than a 1/4 turn (90 degrees) is tough to do before a throw.
To practice the throw you need three people, the pitcher, first baseman, and batter. Why take those people's time on a play that rarely comes up? There are better uses for their time.
And I kind of resent the barb about first baseman being bad athletes. Usually lefties are asked to play first because there are few positions they can excel at in baseball. Baseball was designed for right handers.
It's not that first basemen are bad athletes, it's that most plays at first are easier (require less athleticism) than most plays at any other position. So if you have someone who is a great defensive player, you usually won't put them at first. Instead, you'll put them anywhere else and put your guy who is a great bat but nothing else at first.