The ball jumps off of the bat, and everyone can see it is headed for a gap by the time they hear the "crack," and the batter instantly bolts off in a rounded path preparing to tap first as he goes for extra bases.
Then in a blur, leather snags the ball out of the air, and the batter stops in his tracks while asking himself the same question everyone who saw the play is asking, "how did the fielder get to that ball?"
Because he's fast, that's why. Just ask our boy Slim Chin and he'll tell you, "Fast don't lie."
The baseball field is no exception. Speed effects a game in countless ways. It takes away hits on defense, and adds them on offenses. It can turn a walk into a double, and a pick-off into an error. It can make a single with a man on first into an RBI single.
Here are the players with the most wheels at each position.
*Note: Anytime an infield hit is mentioned, I used baseball-reference.com's split stats where they chart hits and used the "to infield" numbers.
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