Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 24, 2008
The New Royals Quiz

This seems appropriate for Dan Quisenberry's old team:

When sliding feet-first into a base, is your front foot straight up or sideways?

Before a game starts, what are the first two things a player should check?

Stumped? Don't fret. When first-base coach Rusty Kuntz asked the Kansas City Royals to take his quiz on outfield play and baserunning fundamentals, there were quite a few "who didn't have a clue."

But that was better than the first player Kuntz quizzed a couple of years ago in Pittsburgh.

"Out of 50 questions, the guy got five correct," Kuntz said. "And this was a starting player in the major leagues, a very well-known guy. I thought, `Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness.'"

So Kuntz came up with a detailed list of written questions and tried them out on a number of players. The results were encouraging.

"By the end of spring training, I gave the same player the same test, along with a bunch of other guys, and he got every one of them right," Kuntz said. "And I noticed that during the year, he responded quicker to certain situations. I thought if you can do that for outfield play, why not throw in some baserunning fundamentals?"

It's going to be an interesting summer in Kansas City. I don't think they'll contend, but I bet they play better than people expect.


Posted by David Pinto at 05:04 PM | Management | TrackBack (0)
Comments

"Before a game starts, what are the first two things a player should check?"

If it's a TV game,

1) Is his fly closed;
2) Is there tobacco stuck in his teeth.

Posted by: Steve H at February 25, 2008 01:05 AM

"When sliding feet-first into a base, is your front foot straight up or sideways?"

WAG: Up, so it's harder to tag the foot and less chance of injury.

"Before a game starts, what are the first two things a player should check?"

Cup and turf.

Posted by: Plank at February 25, 2008 01:09 AM

From experience, you need to always check to make sure all of your spikes are attached firmly to your cleats. I had one come loose while playing and tore the cartilage in my ankle running to first base.

Posted by: SleepyCA at February 26, 2008 02:10 PM
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