Photo by David Cohen, (BHEphotos/College Baseball Daily)
NYTimes writer Pat Borzi featured a story today on the college game still taking infield and outfield before a game while the pro game has nearly completely abandoned the practice.
In the right hands, it is beautiful to watch. Vanderbilt Coach Tim Corbin remembers being awed by Jimmie Reese, a former California Angels coach who was renowned as a fungo virtuoso, running the Angels through pregame infield at Fenway Park in the 1980s.
“He could throw batting practice with a fungo,” said Corbin, who grew up in New Hampshire. “I’ve never seen anyone handle a bat with such precision as he did. He became like a role model. I said, ‘I want to be able to do that.’ It was like listening to somebody play the piano and master it and say, ‘I want to be as good as that guy.’ ”
Corbin hits infield to the defending N.C.A.A. champion Commodores so he can interact with his players. Corbin stopped hitting pop-ups to his catchers 20 years ago, when he was a Clemson assistant, after a frightening incident in which one of his pops fell on a little girl behind the backstop.
Like most teams, Vanderbilt takes infield at full speed to replicate game conditions. “To me, it’s the start of the game, and when you talk to the kids, it initiates the start of the game, too,” Corbin said. “It puts you in a very good mind-set.”
You can check out the full article by clicking here.
