March 24, 2004
Birds in Flight
Interview with Dave McKay, Cardinal First Base Coach
By Brian Walton
Why are these new-look Cardinals stealing bases with reckless abandon? Through Monday, the Cardinals are just one stolen base short of leading the entire major leagues this spring. After last week’s comments by Tony La Russa about the Cardinals’ approach to steals, (letting each player start with a green light until taken away), I wanted to learn more. To do so, I quickly decided there was no better source than First Base Coach Dave McKay. While only 53 years old, the former infielder has already logged 19 years on La Russa’s staffs; in Oakland and then for the last nine years in St. Louis. McKay’s job at first base is perhaps a bit more low-profile than Jose Oquendo’s over at third, but no less important to the team.
Before a recent Cards-Mets game, Dave discussed infield play, base stealing, and ever so briefly, his son Cody, who is battling for a roster spot.
On the Infield
BW Look at the Japanese media surrounding (new Mets shortstop) Kaz Matsui.
DM For good reason. I hear that he is a talented kid. I’m looking forward to watching him play.
BW How do you think Japanese success translates to America?
DM The Japanese are so well-coached, so mechanically sound, that some of these guys can elevate their play. So Taguchi has done that. He came over to us and made some adjustments and has gotten a little bit better.
BW Can Matsui handle the pressure?
DM I’m sure this guy will have no problem. He’s got that type of ability. He’s probably looking at New York not as a place of pressure but as a place of opportunity.
BW And how about shortstops like Jose Reyes moving over to second base?
DM Most shortstops, it doesn’t take long to determine if they’re going to be a very good second baseman. The only thing you have to worry about; you’ll find out real soon is if they’re afraid of the double play. At second base, you don’t see the runner coming. As a shortstop, you see them coming and you can get out of his way. It doesn’t take long to learn that there are ways of getting out of there. Some have trouble with it and some don’t. Most don’t. If you get a good shortstop, you can get a good second baseman. Here, Jose Oquendo works with the infielders and does about as good of a job as you can get. He does a very good job.
BW How does Hector Luna look to you?
DM Luna’s looking good. He’s a talented kid. The upside is that he learns; he’s learning quick. He’s fielding much better and Jose’s doing that with him right now. Again, he’s someone that we’ve seen only a short while. We need more time, but the upside is there. He’s got a lot of talent that we can work with.
BW Can Luna adequately cover multiple positions?
DM After a week, we might say, “This guy can cover third, second and short.”
BW What do think about Mike Piazza taking up first?
DM He might find it difficult. You never know. Some guys pick it up real quick and some never pick it up. You know, labels stick. I think he’ll be alright. It’s not a very demanding position. I think he’s going to be ok.
On the Running Game
BW What’s your take on the Cardinals’ running game this year? Will they do more running, as it appears in the spring?
DM If it’s there. We don’t run just to run. Tony likes to play high percentages there. Unless you’ve got someone like a Rickey Henderson, who you obviously give the green light, and turn them loose, maybe now and then say “no” in a situation to save a pickoff.
BW You might want the 35-year-old Rickey or the 25-year-old instead of the 45-year-old…
DM Maybe the 20-year old Rickey. But, we have do some guys who can run. That is one thing we don’t plan. We came out of the chute a couple of years ago with a lot of stolen bases. We were even leading the league in stolen bases at one point. And, people started commenting about that. People were asking me about it. I said, “It’s not something that we focus on; leading the league in stolen bases. We’re trying to get quality stolen bases. That’s what we are trying to do.” We have some guys that can run. Edgar Renteria can steal some bases. We like the high percentage stolen base. We don’t steal just to steal. In today’s game, you have to try to make something happen. That is what we like to do.
BW Does the organization have a philosophy on how to slide? We’ve seen a lot of players with hand injuries caused by going into bases headfirst. What’s the Cardinals’ view of that?
DM We do really try to keep the guys from headfirst sliding. To do that to elude the tag, but certainly not to slide headfirst into home plate. What happens is when you get too complicated in your sliding, say, to the left side or the right side or a popup slide; that kind of slide is when guys get hurt. You really should take a slide that they comfortably do and really concentrate on that. Just a nice, clean slide. What’s natural for the player. Everybody has a comfortable way of sliding on one side over the other. If you tell them to slide on the left side here and slide on the right side there, then they’re probably going to catch an ankle or jam a finger or something like that. You just eliminate that by staying with the basics. You tell them to go hard, once you get a feel for it. Keep your hands off the ground, and that type of thing. We’ll have sessions where we work on the slide. So, that’s a big part of it. Just don’t get too complicated. By all means, we try to discourage the headfirst slide. With the guys blocking the bases these days, you can jam a knee, break a finger.
BW I was in Boston last June 12 and saw Scott Rolen plow into Jason Varitek headfirst and thought his season was over with a broken collarbone.
DM That wasn’t a very good idea. He wishes he hadn’t done that. It was one of those things where you just react and hopefully, he won’t react that way again. We try to teach these guys that home plate is obviously a play where the catcher will not stand right in front of it. He will show you it. He’ll show you white. With a throw coming to the plate, if he thinks he has a chance, at the last second, he blocks the plate. Standing in front of it gives the baserunner no alternative but to run over the catcher. He’s going to stop you dead and you’re probably going to get hurt. So, you have to be aware of the catcher.
On Organizational Consistency
BW How much of what you just described is taught here at the major league level versus being beaten into the players as they come up through the minors?
DM Well, it should be. It should be taught the same way here as it is down there. When you bring guys up, you like them to do what you teach, from stretching to whatever. You don’t want them up here, being sent down for rehab and all of the sudden, you have an entirely different stretch and coming up sore from doing a drill a different way. You want them doing it the same way. We get together with the minor league people and go over how we like to have it done. But, we have some pretty sharp people down there and sometimes, we change our way of doing it up here as a result of what they do down there. So, the key is doing it the same. When you come up in this organization, you should understand you’re going to do it the same way.
BW What about when new players come in?
DM I’ve had players come in and we’ve talked about how they do defensive drills or outfield drills or offensive drills or whatever and learn that another organization has said, “This is how we’ve done it.” And, we talk about it, and pretty soon, we do it your way. You know what? This is a better way of doing it. The players say it’s easier for us to do it that way, and you get better results, then we’ll change it. We’ll do it their way. We’ll find a better way of doing it. We’re not locked into thinking that we have all the answers. There are a lot of good teachers out there in other organizations and we often change our way of doing, our way of thinking, according to how another organization has done it. We kind of look for an easy way of getting it done. Some people make it real complicated and it shouldn’t be complicated.
BW I would imagine sometimes players come in who are set in their ways and resist change.
DM We try not to bring in those players.
On the 2004 Cardinal Team
BW How long has your son Cody been catching? That hasn’t been his primary position all along, has it?
DM He started as a shortstop in college and he signed with the A’s as a third baseman and started catching four or five years ago.
BW Well, versatility is a premium when you’re fighting for one of the last spots on the team, right?
DM Yeah, it will help. There’s no doubt about it. It will help.
BW The staff looks a lot stronger this year, doesn’t it?
DM Yeah, we’re pretty set with our pitching. We’ve got some good arms. If we can come out of here healthy, we should be in pretty good shape.
BW Hopefully, Alan Benes’ injury won’t cause him to miss more than a couple of starts.
DM It’s a real disappointment. He was going so well. We think it is minor, so hopefully, he’ll be back soon.
