Yadier Molina knows what the other team is going to do, a breakdown
What Happened
In a 1-0 game against the Giants in the top of the fifth, the Cardinals faced runners on the corners with two outs. Yadier Molina, reading both the Giants' habits and their signs being relayed from the dugout to the third base coach to first base coach to baserunner, recognized a planned steal of second by Joc Pederson. Molina waited until the pitcher reached his set position, called a pitchout, popped up and gunned Pederson down at second to end the inning. The play killed a Giants rally that could have tied the game.
Why This Matters
This is the rare defensive sequence that shows why a catcher's brain matters as much as his arm. With first and third and two outs, the Giants like to put the trail runner in motion to force a throw or sneak a run home on a hit-and-run. Molina called for a pitchout, the safest counter because it gets the ball to the catcher early and clear of a hitter. The risk is tipping it too soon, which freezes the runner. Molina timed it perfectly. Pederson never looked back at home, his eyes locked on the pitcher to avoid a pickoff, so he had no warning. In a one-run game, erasing that runner mattered. Molina was 39 in his final season, and moments like this explain his reputation as a field general long after his bat had faded.
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Key Moments
Who / What Is Involved
Players: Yadier Molina.
Key Terms Mentioned
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momenttwo teams that have an inner looping s in their logo are facing off it's one nothing cardinals
are up top of the fifth inning giants have runners on the corners two outs this one is brought to you
by shady rays get you some sunglasses because summer is here the manager comes out to talk to
the pitcher and yadi melina says i'll talk to him skip i got this he just gets in his face says hey
let's go at this guy probably let's attack him with fastballs i'm only saying that because
i know they throw fastballs after this that's my best guess and they say all right let's do it
also maybe they try to steal yadi in control looking good hot catches so many games those
hot st louis summers looking good though now watch this catchers are badasses they are the field
general they are looking the other way the only position that faces the opposite direction sees
the entire field so he's looking around getting his bearings calling pitches they're going to
start them outside fastball they're saying this is a sinker they get the foul ball yadi says there
you go now let's bust them in let's move the ball around they get that pitch strike oh and two so
now the giants they put the runner in motion but it's fouled back and jock was on first base he
went for the steal maybe a hit and run definitely just a steal and now as he's walking back to first
out because the manager is giving signs to the third base coach who's giving them to the first
base coach and the base runner and the first base coach is whispering to the runner and saying like
hey let's do that again and yadi is just looking around taking it all in squats down looks over at
first base at Paul Goldschmidt nods adam says like yo what up and you can see goldie kind of shrug
back see that yadi nods adam right here like it's on
and Paul Goldschmidt right they cut away but he shrugged she's like maybe i don't fucking know i
didn't hear i don't know good all right and yadi says no it's on dude i head nodded at you i just
witnessed all of that i'm a smart guy so the next pitch yadi calls for a fastball now he can't give
this away too soon because then the runner won't run but he stands up calls for the pitch out guns
the guy down jock gets tagged out they don't score opportunity to tie the game squandered and
yadi goes that's what i do fired up about it just read the play he says you guys can't be that
obvious man i'm yadi melina my brain is bigger than yours when it comes to baseball there might
be things he's not good at i don't know him but look at this i love it because the the runner jock
he's staring at the pitcher's feet because he doesn't want to get picked off so his eyes aren't
but yadi doesn't want to stand up too soon because then that gives away the whole play
if he just jumps up they're probably gonna be like oh we can't run so yadi waits until
the pitcher's in his set position i still think he might have stood up too soon but jock didn't
see him at all you wonder where's this guy at the third the guy the runner on third or even the
third base coach no everyone's staring at the pitcher no one's looking at the catcher i guess
you got to put that in your memory if you're trying to run this play again like at any point
they all could have yelled you know stay stay stay jock goes they gun him down he's out it's easy
they asked yadi about it after the game and here's what he had to say i got a pretty good idea they
they like to do that on the scouting report i'm um i'm glad that we execute pretty pretty well
that play i'm i'm happy for that so he says i have a pretty i had a pretty good idea they were
going to do that in the scouting report and i was wondering i thought maybe he was just going to be
in modest and i was like is that really in the scouting report or you know it seems like it's all
him but yadi gives credit to his teammates he never wants to talk about himself so i went through and
looked up all the times to see if this was actually a play the giants run a lot would this be in the
scouting report turns out they do do it quite a bit when it's first and third especially two outs
here you're gonna have to listen to the announcers because they're the ones that they don't show the
runner taking off that you just got to hear the announcer say it here's the 1-0 runner goes so
thinner goes first and third two outs the runner took off back now the runner goes first and third
again two outs the runner takes off and it's a runner goes runner goes first and third only one
out but the runner took off bigger runs first and third two outs two strikes runner goes belt goes
belt goes first and third two outs two strikes the runner go so this is a play probably was in quelqu
Scouting report that first and third, two outs.
The Giants like to put the runner in first in motion and make you make a play.
Hope you make a mistake or maybe run a little hit and run.
See what happens when you're one strike away from getting out of the inning.
Good job by the scouting team on the Cardinals.
Good job by Yachty.
That's why I love catchers.
They are the field generals.
Always got to know what's going on.
Out there in the sun, doing the damn thing.
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