Intentionally Deviating to Add Difficulty

[nopachunts]

Originally Posted by Manny A

It was pretty obvious that what Ichiro did was not rounding. There was no way he was going to continue to home, seeing that the ball was fielded by the shortstop. Runners round bases when they anticipate they'll continue on. What Ichiro did was intentionally put himself in the perceived path of the throw.

When I was coaching and I had a runner coming to third, he was paying attention to the 3BC as to slide, come in standing, or head for home. If the SS fielded the ball and was throwing to 1B or 2B, I had my players ready to go home in case of an overthrow. I imagine he was doing the same thing. Again smart base running.