The IBB Defensive Shift

Whilst watching the Rays vs. Indians game last night, the intentional walk issued to Carlos Santana in the bottom of the 5th inning led me to question a tactical aspect of such a play. I was not internally questioning the choice made by Joe Maddon to provide a 1st base coupon to the switch-hitter, but rather the positional usage of seemingly redundant fielders during such a potentially risky event.

So here's what happened. With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, Shin-Soo Choo singles on a sneaky bunt and subsequently reaches 3rd after a wild pitch by Jeff Niemann and an erroneous throw to 2nd from John Jaso. With Choo now in scoring position, Maddon elects to intentionally walk Santana in order to face Travis Hafner. At this point Niemann had already struck out Hafner twice that night. No complaints here Mr. Maddon

As Niemann was in the process of delivering his intentional walk, the usual dread of a wild pitch or passed ball filled my mind with Choo thievishly edging down the 3rd base line. I am sure that most of us have witnessed a stray pitch in these circumstances, allowing the man on 3rd to score. With the pitcher, catcher, 3rd baseman and perhaps 1st baseman being the only fielders actively engaged during the regimented play, I began to wonder why one of the other fielders didn't take up a position behind the catcher as a backup to any stray ball that might occur. After all, they were otherwise standing idly by when they could quite easily retrieve a wild pitch, whilst the catcher covered the plate against the advancing runner.

Without knowing the legality of such a move, I opened up the question to the Game Day Thread floor. I was informed that all fielders must be positioned within fair territory before a pitch is delivered. Well even if that is the case, as far as I'm aware, there's nothing to stop a fielder standing close to home plate, in fair territory, in anticipation of being needed to recover a loose ball at the backstop. Also, the hitter is not allowed to step outside of the batter's box to try and hit the ball without being called out. He therefore cannot attempt to take advantage of any gaps vacated by an out of position fielder who is covering the catcher. I do appreciate that there is the danger of a pitcher throwing the ball over the plate by mistake, and the hitter actually swinging at it, but this seems even more unlikely considering the risks involved to a hitter who is going to get a free base on balls. For arguments sake, I can understand why an outfielder might be needed to cover a wild pickoff throw to 3rd, but that still leaves other fielders who could help at home plate.

If the tactic of the intentional walk is to lessen the chance of a runner in scoring position actually crossing home plate after the free pass, then it would also be prudent to lessen the chance of that run scoring during the free pass, one might think.

I thought that it would be interesting to place this discussion in a FanPost so that other opinions could be offered on the subject. What does everyone else think of such a positional move? What rules, if there are any, which dictate this as being an unfeasible or illegal option? I cannot profess to know the complete ins and outs of all baseball rules, so perhaps others can explain why this tactic cannot be utilized.