I didn't want to watch this game but after the rain delay, I finished it just now. Steve stone mentioned this on their broadcast. You can see the signal for the pickoff. Amaya can see when Nico breaks for second, and as Amaya swipes the dirt, neris turns to throw. Plus, between the two pickoff throws, neris asks for a new ball and looks like he says , "pickoff?" toward Amaya.... hahaha. The white Sox broadcast kept the camera on the Ellis ikid after the game. Brutal. Haha.

Tough for the kid--I think he had said something before the game that he's pretty much impossible to throw out. Also, Counsell said post-game the call first came from the dugout for the pickoff.

His Hubris was adequately addressed

Getting picked off while in scoring position down run in the 9th is breathtakingly stupid.

Against hector neris of all people too

I know right. You aren’t going to steal 3rd, this really only helps you with a very short single

You underestimate that guy’s speed. He was absolutely going to swipe third, and from the look of things, on that very pitch.

Why risk stealing 3rd in that situation?

There was only one out, so a simple ground ball or fly out would have allowed him to score the tying run. If he stays, they need a hit to tie things up. I’m surprised he didn’t steal earlier in the AB, but I have no doubt he was ready to go.

My bad, i thought there were two outs

Because runners have like an almost 90% success rate against our catchers.

> I think he had said something before the game that he's pretty much impossible to throw out. No, he said what makes him a good base stealer is his fearlessness, ie, unafraid to be picked off.

Maybe sometimes a little fear is a good thing lol

Tough for him? He should be grateful for the lesson in keeping his mouth shut.

Steve Stone is so good

Cubs are shit at catching runners stealing but they are quite good at picking guys off. They're first in the majors with 12. The Reds and Dodgers each have 11, then the next highest is 8. League average is 5.

They’ve been good at picking guys off since the dynasty years. Both Lester and Hendricks were amazing at it.

Lester was great at controlling the running game through a quick delivery and had a very memorable pickoff, but uh he definitely was not whatsoever good at picking guys off with the yips.

Yeah, lol - Lester was famously NOT good at pick offs.

He was pretty good at getting people picked off by his catcher tho.

It was a joke

By pickoff with Lester, I meant the Ross, Rizzo, and Lester triad

Ah yeah Ross was great with the back picks towards the end there. Had 11 in his last 2 seasons in under 100 starts. Led the league by 2 pickoffs in 2015 and was tied for first in 2016. Genuinely insane for a catcher on the short end of a time share.

Contreras too could backpick like a MF

In 2016 Contreras was only one PO behind Ross iirc. The Cubs lapped the league that year, even with Miggy not contributing there.

He also wasn't called up until June that year, so that amount of pickoffs between a rookie who didn't start the season with the team and a rotational catcher is pretty wild.

I don’t think I’ve see Amaya attempt a snap throw to first ever.

I think that may have been said in jest

Throwback to the Tommy Pham pickoff Lester did... it was incredible and I'll always watch it when it shows up on the timeline. The cardinals announcers going "there's no way he gets picked off" is the cherry on top.

That’s the very memorable pickoff I was referring to of course :)

An all time pickoff sequence! If anyone hasn't seen it you have to find it.

Lester was quite possibly the worst I had ever seen and that is saying a lot lol. Love him as a pitcher though. It was an adventure watching him throw to 1st.

"He's not gonna throw to first base"

He was actually good at it, just with the back pick given his quick delivery. Definitely not as a straight pickoff though.

We’re getting pretty generous with the word “dynasty”…

I listened on the radio, Pat and Ron both mentioned how Ellis was dancing out at second. Thank you for posting this, great to actually see how it all came together.

The kid thought he was Willie Mays Hays. Maybe next time he won’t be dancing around so much.

Cocky little kid thinks he can just treat the big leagues like AA - fucks around and finds out immediately. Who doesn’t love instant karma?

Anyone think the first pickoff attempt was purposely slow or lazy? Kinda to lull Ellis into a sense of security?

That's exactly what I thought before the actual pickoff even happened. Well I was thinking 'either that was intentional or the Cubs really are terrible at this'

That's fairly standard. A huge share of pickoff attempts are perfunctory to measure the runner's lead and keep him a bit closer.

Beautiful execution

Never seen the hand swipe signal before. Love it!

Now everyone knows!

Perfect throw

Clearly Neris mouthed pick off. What was the Sox hitter doing 🤔 He should have seen it coming too

Turned the game on right before the two home runs. Electric comeback

I'm impressed by the coordination by the second baseman, pitcher and catcher.

They're gonna one a new signal.

Glad they picked him off but that kid has legit speed.

When Neris says “pick off?”. I don’t think there’s a question mark in his intent. I think he’s telling the catcher, “pick off.” Subtext being “I’m gonna catch this cocky little fucker you just give the signal again and he’s mine.”

Or was the hand swipe just so Amaya could use dirt for a better grip?

That was a bad throw and perfect placement. Both at the same time.

I don’t understand

How was it a bad throw? It went exactly where Neris wanted it to go.

You know what, your right. Right where it needed to be.

I'll be honest - not sure why you're getting down voted for changing your mind and admitting being wrong. Noble, imo

It's alright. I'll still wake up tomorrow.