When it comes to fall baseball, early runs on the board can mean all the difference when it comes to giving a team a confidence boost. Kansas City Royals third-base coach Chuck Hiller and catcher Salvador Perez were complicit in an aggressive base-running choice in the first inning of Game 1 of the ALDS against the New York Yankees which produced plenty of opinions around the baseball world.
With zero outs and a ball in play to right field with runners on first and second, Perez rounded third and was sent home by Hiller. Outfielder Juan Soto got the ball on a hop, loaded up, and sent it home to his catcher, Austin Wells, who easily tagged out Perez.
The outcome says it all, but there's a world in which this move could pay off. And you can't really fault a team for getting after it early in a playoff game. But peeling back the layers, it's difficult to understand the decision. The Royals had zero outs, and Perez's sprint speed is a slow 24.8 feet per second. That ranks 547th in MLB and 36th (of 47) of catchers who had at least 75 opportunities.
It's a decision that, if it pays off, we call gutsy. When it doesn't, it gets torn to bits. That's the cutthroat nature of professional sports, especially placed under the intense microscope of the postseason.
Fans and pundits alike had thoughts:
Two bad baserunning mistakes in this game already.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) October 5, 2024
I cannot believe the Royals sent Sal Perez home there.
Juan Soto guns him out at the plate to make the first out.
Remember when they wouldn’t send Pham a couple weeks ago and the reason was “bases loaded nobody out”
— Christopher Tenpenny (@Tenpenny88) October 5, 2024
Yeah I don’t get what it changed with Perez
Sending PEREZ in a playoff game is diabolical https://t.co/YgPRBwlnd6
— 𝕽⃨⃩𝕭⃨⃩ (@rbhockey6) October 5, 2024
I know the Royals have struggled to score runs, and Soto's arm is below average, but what an awful send https://t.co/PfcTUnFuvV pic.twitter.com/B3AbR5fh49
— Brandon Wile (@Brandon_N_Wile) October 5, 2024
Huge play. Don’t know what KC is doing sending the slow footed Perez with none out.
— Billy Reinhardt (@BillyReinhardt) October 5, 2024
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Royals Head-Scratching Baserunning Decision Foiled by Juan Soto Baffled MLB Fans.
