Physically, Jason Bay does not look like he would be (at best) an average defensive left-fielder. He's not overweight. He looks like he can run. His arm doesn't seem to have any deficiencies that would prevent him from throwing in a strong and accurate manner.
At first glance, his problems would seem to be instinctual. He doesn't always seem to get a good read on the ball off the bat. This slows down his response time and he's late going to retrieve the ball-in-play. Whats more, when he does decide to go get a ball he sometimes doesn't take the most efficient route toward catching it. Don't get me wrong, Jason Bay is clawing his way to the top of my list of favorite players but this was the impression I was left with of him after last season.
Turns out I was wrong. Jason Bay's issues aren't physical and they aren't instinctual. As this photo will attest, they're emotional. Jason Bay is afraid of the baseball. So Bay and I have something in common: I have never been not afraid of a foul ball hit in my general direction (three or four sections over and I'm still probably cowering).
It reminds me of a Popsicle-stick joke that I loved when I was in third grade (and really sharing the joke is the point of this post):
Question: Why was Cinderella bad at baseball?
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