3/7/20

Tom Brennan - DIVE AT YOUR OWN RISK



"DIVE, DIVE DIVE!" is for submarine movies. 

But in baseball? 

It can be hazardous to your health. 

And to your team’s future success.

Guys who dove a lot and missed a lot of time, in whole or in part, because of their diving:

David Wright

Jose Reyes

Juan Lagares 

Current big hitters who got hurt diving:

Aaron Judge - if he needs rib surgery, he will miss most of 2020.

J.D. Davis - seems to have dodged a bullet.

Tommie Agee dove in the 1969 World Series, as did Ron Swoboda.  For both, their dives were do-or-die critical. 

But often, the dive is NOT do-or-die.

Don’t dive, unless it is a do-or-die situation. We need you healthy, boys.

2 comments:

Mack Ade said...

you can't stop from diving...

it is part of a ballplayer's natural instinct...

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, I hear ya - and if guys missed a week, I'd agree.

But diving helped ruin Wright's career. Screwed Lagares' career, too.

It set Reyes back a lot.

Judge may miss a year's time (if he needs surgery) because he dove.

And JD? He seems like he'll be OK, so he got lucky. Even more so because he did it in a meaningless spring game.

My solution? Feet first slides - legs being stronger than hands. And tell yourself ahead of time that you won't dive unless it is do or die. Because not making a play here or there is preferable to missing a year, or ruining a career.