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The wheel play is a defensive strategy in baseball designed to defend against a sacrifice bunt. The play's name derives from the wheel-like rotation of the infielders.
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The wheel play is a defensive strategy in baseball designed to defend against a sacrifice bunt. The play's name derives from the wheel-like rotation of the infielders.
The wheel play is typically only employed when all of the following conditions exist:
In such a scenario, the batting team may attempt a sacrifice bunt in order to move the runner at second base to third base, accepting that the batter will be put out at first base. If that happens, the offense would then have a runner at third base with one out, and that runner could subsequently score on a sacrifice fly.
To defend against this scenario, the wheel play is used by the defense in an attempt to prevent the offense from advancing the runner at second base to third base via a sacrifice bunt.
The wheel play is a unique bunt defense in that the play is designed to put out the lead runner at third base. Most bunt defense strategies give priority to making sure the defense gets an out at first base. [1]
The wheel play begins with the shortstop running to cover (defend) third base. As the pitch is thrown by the pitcher, the third baseman and first baseman rush toward home plate, to be in position to field the bunted ball as quickly as possible, while the second baseman runs to cover (defend) first base. Additionally, the pitcher moves into a defensive position, backing up one of the inrushing fielders (which one, usually depends on which direction the pitcher's pitching motion carries him towards). [2]
The defense seeks to have defenders in position such that once the ball is bunted, it can be picked up quickly by one of the charging fielders, who will be much closer to the batter than they would be in their normal fielding positions. If that occurs, the fielder who picks up the ball can throw it to the shortstop (who is covering third base) to retire the runner advancing from second base, either via a force play (when applicable) or tag out. Recording an out at third base represents a successfully executed wheel play. Additionally, if the batter is not a fast runner, the shortstop (at third base) may be able to throw to the second baseman (at first base) to successfully complete a double play.
Alternately, if a fielder is slow in picking up the ball, and/or he sees that the runner advancing from second base is unlikely to be retired at third base, the fielder can throw the ball to the second baseman (who is covering first base) to retire the batter. While this is not a successfully executed wheel play, it provides no worse an outcome than would have occurred on a normally executed sacrifice bunt.
The offense can attempt to defeat the wheel play:
One of the earliest recorded instances of the wheel play being used in Major League Baseball (MLB) was when it was executed by the Pittsburgh Pirates against the St. Louis Cardinals on August 14, 1960, resulting, as reported by The Pittsburgh Press , in "an electrifying double play [...] that had the 36,775 fans screaming." [3] [4] Several Pirate players and coaches said they had never seen the play before, but the Pirate players who executed the play attributed the original idea to former Chicago Cubs manager Charlie Grimm, who they thought used it in 1950. [5]
The Cardinals successfully used the wheel play against the Texas Rangers in the second inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. [6] With runners on first base and second base and no outs, Texas pitcher Colby Lewis attempted a sacrifice bunt, resulting in a double play when third baseman David Freese fielded the bunt, threw to shortstop Rafael Furcal at third base for the first out, and Furcal threw to second baseman Nick Punto at first base for the second out. [7] [8]
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This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries.
Valentine recalled watching the World Series and seeing Texas pitcher Colby Lewis ground a bunt into a double play thanks to St. Louis manager Tony La Russa calling the wheel play, a bunt defense that worked to perfection.
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