Yup - he makes many good calls. Here’s an example regarding Larnach’s blunder on the bases -
Larnach washes away gaffe
He didn’t have anyone on the bench to make the move anyway, but Baldelli wasn’t going to pull
Trevor Larnachafter his mental base-running mistake in the third inning. Running on
Matt Wallner’s two-out double to right, a ball that should have been caught but dropped in, Larnach inexplicably stopped after passing second base.
He’d forgotten how many outs there were. Trying to race home, Larnach instead was easily thrown out for the final out of the inning.
What initially appeared on TV broadcasts as a lack of hustle turned out to be a blunder that may have prevented the Twins from pulling away. Without
Byron Buxton,
Jose Miranda or
Brooks Lee available, Baldelli instead told Larnach to forget the play and stay engaged in the game.
“Sometimes that stuff can stay with guys throughout games because he knows what he did,” Baldelli said. “It wasn’t a good baseball play, it was a mental error. Instead of him thinking the whole game that he let the team down in some way, I told him, ‘This is the last time you’re going to think about that play.’ … When we have a legitimate issue with effort, then I have a serious issue with the player. That’s not effort. Although it looks really bad, that was a mental error that cost us, but that was not an effort (play).”
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As an ex-player he understands.
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