What a negative connotation. The translation of playing stupid is lacking intelligence or common sense.
Jon Lester’s “Play Stupid” campaign made sense to Joe Maddon.
“I kind of like he said that we played stupid, because I think that’s actually complimentary,” Maddon said. “But it really comes down to a naïvete. You’re just out there like full throttle. You’re not overanalyzing anything. You’re just in the moment. You’re playing hard and you believe you can do it.”
“There’s the point where you really like to have a lot of experience to rely upon in those difficult moment," Maddon said about his time with the young Rays teams. "And there are other times – you can think about your own life experience – where you didn’t know well enough to just walk into a difficult moment and just nail it because you didn’t overthink it.”
It is better to play "smart."
Like taking the right angles to chase down balls hit into the outfield gaps.
Like hitting the cut-off man on throws to the infield.
Like not running into easy outs on the base paths when a ball put in play in the infield.
Like not taking the extra base because you had a bad jump or bad read of the play in front of you.
Like not adjusting during a game to the umpire's strike zone.
Like not getting yourself in the proper position to field ground balls.
Like not stabilizing your body to make routine throws across the diamond.
Like knowing the game situation with runners in scoring position to increase the chances to score a run.
Like not swinging for the fences with an 0-2 count.
Like not sliding head first into second base.
Baseball IQ means that a player has a natural sense of the flow of the game so as to have the ability to react to any situation without thinking about it. You are part of the game. Playing stupid is where your mind is wandering and not concentrating (or more importantly anticipating) the next pitch or play. As such you have to think first then react to a ball sharply hit at you - - - causing a disruption in the natural flow of the game inside the player's head.
A player can have great natural talent but without baseball intelligence he can be just a replacement player at best.
“I kind of like he said that we played stupid, because I think that’s actually complimentary,” Maddon said. “But it really comes down to a naïvete. You’re just out there like full throttle. You’re not overanalyzing anything. You’re just in the moment. You’re playing hard and you believe you can do it.”
“There’s the point where you really like to have a lot of experience to rely upon in those difficult moment," Maddon said about his time with the young Rays teams. "And there are other times – you can think about your own life experience – where you didn’t know well enough to just walk into a difficult moment and just nail it because you didn’t overthink it.”
It is better to play "smart."
Like taking the right angles to chase down balls hit into the outfield gaps.
Like hitting the cut-off man on throws to the infield.
Like not running into easy outs on the base paths when a ball put in play in the infield.
Like not taking the extra base because you had a bad jump or bad read of the play in front of you.
Like not adjusting during a game to the umpire's strike zone.
Like not getting yourself in the proper position to field ground balls.
Like not stabilizing your body to make routine throws across the diamond.
Like knowing the game situation with runners in scoring position to increase the chances to score a run.
Like not swinging for the fences with an 0-2 count.
Like not sliding head first into second base.
Baseball IQ means that a player has a natural sense of the flow of the game so as to have the ability to react to any situation without thinking about it. You are part of the game. Playing stupid is where your mind is wandering and not concentrating (or more importantly anticipating) the next pitch or play. As such you have to think first then react to a ball sharply hit at you - - - causing a disruption in the natural flow of the game inside the player's head.
A player can have great natural talent but without baseball intelligence he can be just a replacement player at best.
