Delmon Young isn't doing the little things right, either

Juan Pierre was the leadoff batter for the Marlins tonight. As evident by his .277 slugging percentage this season and 18 career home runs, he's not exactly a power hitter.

The above SS comes during a Pierre floater to right field. About one second after contact, Delmon Young is still in the shade. He's nearly at the warning track. The pitch speed is on the scoreboard, Pettibone is off the mound completely, yet Delmon is still in the shade!

It's a bit blurry, but that thing right below Delmon's right foot - that's the baseball landing in the middle of right field. Longitude and latitude coordinates of the exact center of right field. And that dark area about 14 feet behind him, that's the shade - where he just was 5 minutes ago when the ball was hit.

Does Delmon review the scouting reports before the game? Has he ever heard of or seen Juan Pierre? Move in! After watching Delmon play, it's easy to note that he doesn't like going back on a fly-ball. Every player is more comfortable going certain directions, but he has to play the percentages and take away the bloop single. When you hit .216 and are a liability in the field, you have to do every little thing possible to give yourself an advantage. Positioning yourself correctly is one of those things. Tonight, it would have erased two hits.

This SS is from the top of the 5th. Juan Pierre steps into the batter's box and this is the defensive formation that we see. There are two possibilities here:

1) The scouting report for Pierre is that he bloops it to left and center and smashes it to right #ChollyBall.

2) Delmon Young has no clue what is happening #RubenBall.

Pierre floats a spinner out to right that hangs up forever and lands in the heart of right field, and Delmon takes it on one hop. Let's note that there is a runner on second, and he should be playing slightly more shallow to give himself a better chance to throw the runner out at home. Considering that and Pierre's 14 year track record of never hitting it over a right fielder's head - move in!

I'll also quickly point out Delmon's positioning in image #3 compared to image #4. He appears to be able to move 14 feet - no more, no less - in any one direction for a low hanging fly-ball.

Answer: #RubenBall

Images from MLB.tv