Quote:
Originally Posted by Quatitos
After watching the video, I don't really understand how anyone can say he was really blocking the plate. He is more taking away the inside of the plate and making Cousins go outside. If Cousins hadn't been dead set on taking Posey out, he would have noticed how far out Posey leaned to get the ball and that the outside of the plate was wide open. Cousins actually had to jump towards his left to get Posey since he was not actually blocking the plate. The worst part is that Posey didn't even catch the ball so no matter what Cousins would have been safe.
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I watched it again, and can see your point, but I still stand by my initial statement that Posey was in no man's land.
First, if Cousins tries to go around Posey, and Posey fields the ball cleanly, Cousins is out, as the ball clearly beat him with enough time for Posey to do a sweep tag.
But regardless, even if Cousins shouldn't have tried to run Posey over, Posey was very poorly positioned.
The proper technique that Bench established for making a sweep tag is to be way in front of the plate, and stretch your left leg straight out so that it blocks the plate. This forces the runner to either jump over the leg, or go way around it, and allows you to sweep way behind the plate once you get the ball.
Posey was too close to the plate, and had his leg tucked under him. This gave Cousins a clear path to the plate, through Posey, and made Posey's leg very vulnerable when contact was made.
If Posey is in the correct position there, Cousins can't run him over, and even if he tries, Posey would be fine.
I'm not trying to blame Posey or take blame away from Cousins for a hard slide, but just point out that if Posey had proper technique, he would have not been injured.