Game play contention

[TomVeal]

Originally Posted by Eugene Church

Don't have any statistical facts, but I have never seen the third baseman step on the bag to end an inning or even a force out with less than two outs... I may have seen him step on the bag for the first out and then throws to first to double the runner.

You never see him tag a runner from second who is right near him.either.. the third baseman always throws to first.

This is something that I've never thought about, but it makes sense that third basemen, who are farther from first base than middle infielders, don't waste even a fraction of an instant checking see whether third base or a baserunner is close at hand. They just train themselves to throw automatically to first (or to second if there's a man on first and fewer than two outs).