What Exactly is Nick Punto’s Deal?
I used to gripe about Nick Punto. I used to sneer at Minnesota fans who bought his shirseys and cheered loudly when he came to bat. I used to roll my eyes every time an announcer would laud him for his hard-nosed play, his determination, and, of course, his “scrappy-ness.” I never actively disliked him — never booed or threw a ranting comment into the Internet — but he always just kind of annoyed me. But then, it hit me last night. Nick Punto doesn’t give two shits about what I think. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks about him. If he does, he certainly doesn’t play that way. Nick Punto has transcended. He has come to the realization that he only gets one shot on Earth, and he gets to spend part of it playing baseball for a living. So, while he has the chance, Nick Punto is going to play exactly the way Nick Punto wants.
Your feelings on Nick Punto are irrelevant, you see.
Godspeed, Nick Punto. Keep on keepin’ on.
David G. Temple is the Managing Editor of TechGraphs and a contributor to FanGraphs, NotGraphs and The Hardball Times. He hosts the award-eligible podcast Stealing Home. Dayn Perry once called him a "Bible Made of Lasers." Follow him on Twitter @davidgtemple.
Note that there is a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to slide into first base.
Nick uses the slide as his means to touch first as soon as possible, so he flops down at the right time to quickly slap the bag. Others, they just slide in and stop on first, doin it just for show.
G.R.I.T.
No, actually there are probably an almost unlimited number of WRONG ways to slide into first base.
There are, however, exactly zero RIGHT ways to do so, unless it is to avoid a tag.
So….not zero then?
Well, he did avoid being tagged.
I don’t know how much the slide really had to do with that though – better safe than sorry.
Seriously though, the way he slides it almost does seem faster, it’s not really a slide as much as a dive.