A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study ~ Chinese Proverb

You all know the Defensive Specialist is a wise man, so consider this post a conversation and free up your calendar for the next ten years! That’s right folks, today is all about your education. The Defensive Specialist doesn’t risk hard-core seat rash just to catch a ball game – it’s all about capturing data and information and then relaying it to the loyal readers so as to enhance the baseball experience. After each series, the Defensive Specialist will endeavour to bring you a “What has the Defensive Specialist Learnt” post that will highlight key findings and insights from the most recent activity.

Being on hand for the ABL season opener presented the Defensive Specialist an opportunity to lay eyes on the Blue Sox who have been widely regarded as the best team in the competition and the Canberra Multiculturalists who many believed would simply make up the numbers. Needless to say, the Defensive Specialist had thoughts on both teams.

Enough small talk, lets get learned:

1. The Multiculturalists aren’t simply making up the numbers. The Defensive Specialist figured that once Kent succumbed to his innings limit (2) the game would turn into batting practice for the Blue Sox. Michael Lennox showed a loose arm and Jung-Min Lee tossed up the kitchen sink to hold Sydney to 1 run. There seems to be enough in the bullpen to keep opposing teams in control. It will be intriguing to see how the rest of the starting rotation pans out across the remaining 3 games against Sydney. Offensively the lineup seems well balanced although there were a few tardy swings against Oxspring which you’d expect early in the season.  Contender for name of the year, Didi Gregorious leads off and appears to have plus speed, Kyu-Hyun Moon was flying open but should be able to handle the bat. Nick Kimpton and Donald Lutz make a solid 3 / 4 combo with Kimpton providing the contact and Lutz bringing the grunt. The lower half of the order was a little thin but if they can scrap their way on base, it will give the top half something to work with.
2. Having an ace is important. Anytime you can wheel your pitching coach out to the bump and have him toss up 6 scoreless with 8 punch outs, it forms the basis of a strong teaching platform: “Guys, just watch me and do as I do”. The Defensive Specialist was intrigued to see what Oxspring had to offer after a year off and he didn’t disappoint, working primarily off his fastball (87-88 with one appearance at 91). The really exciting thing for Sydney is that he maintained his velocity throughout the outing, which means that the bullpen was not required early. If Oxspring can maintain that level of competitiveness, the Sydney pitching staff could be very very miserly.
3. Don’t run on David Kandilas. As a base runner on first, anytime a left handed hitter pops a 97 hopper through the infield you have to go first to third (unless of course you have a piano strapped to your back). So when Kyu-Hyun Moon saw Kimpton’s ball scoot through to rightfield, his natural instinct was to keep wheeling to third. Unfortunately, the ball ended up in David Kandilas’ glove and he proceeded to unleash one of the more impressive throws the Defensive Specialist has seen in person. The ball travelled from medium rightfield on a line to the shoe tops of the awaiting third baseman to nail Moon comfortably. Opposing third base coaches may want to jot the above to the underside of their cap as a reminder when playing the Blue Sox.
4. The quality of infield outfield catcher pop ups was low. Whether it was the fact that both coaches were ABL rookies appearing on the big stage for the first time or the knowledge that the Defensive Specialist was in attendance and grading, the standard of pop ups was simply not up to standard. Everything in this league has a shiny new professional look and feel about it, which means that the dime pieces have to be significantly better. Let this serve as a warning to both coaches – the Defensive Specialist wants more (height, location and style)!
5. The Blue Sox bullpen could eat up lefties. On Saturday we saw David Welch and Dae-Sung Koo work and both were murder on the Multiculturalists left handed hitters. Welch was 85-86 with the fastball and used his breaking ball effectively. Koo has an odd set up with his back almost facing the hitter and the delivery almost brings the ball out of right centre making life misery for the one lefty he faced (professional hitter Nick Kimpton).
6. Sales were up. The Defensive Specialist was amazed and pleased to see a large proportion of the crowd sporting some form of Blue Sox apparel. Considering the somewhat lofty prices associated with the gear, fans have come out in force to snap up the merchandise. It will be interesting to see how sales go around the rest of the franchises.
7. The Blue Sox offense was a little sluggish. The top half (D’Antonio, Auty and Dening) seemed locked in, but the remainder will need to turn it up a notch if the Sydney team hopes to live up to the mantle of being “the best team ever assembled in the history of baseball in the universe” as proclaimed by ABL Chairman Mark Peters. Pat ‘Stone Hands’ Maat was struggling to catch up to the fastball and Graham and Moanaroa were tardy on the heat throughout. The lower third of Lysaught, Holland and Kandilas also looked a little toothless and can be pitched to.
8. The ABL is working to give the fans a good experience. Despite a couple of speed bumps, the in game presentation and entertainment was 100% better than anything we saw last year. It wasn’t gimmicky or over engineered and despite a heavy reliance on the Black Eyed Peas, Rhianna and Justin Bieber the music was tolerable – although a shout out to last year with some Bon Jovi would have been nice. 

So there you have it. The Defensive Specialist has eased you in to things for the first time this season, from here on out you’ll need to bring your Masters Degree as things will get mighty technical. If you have any thoughts or comments from the opening game, be sure to hit the mailbag. Since the Defensive Specialist is only one man and can only get to the Multiculturalists Vs. Blue Sox this weekend, any feedback and insights from other series is always welcome.

The plan for Thursday (pending GM’s responding to the Defensive Specialist’s requests for starting rotations and line ups) is a set of series previews as the Aces take on the Bite and the Heat go head to head with the Bandits.