"Let it go foul."

Balls are hit down the line and instinct is often to allow the ball to go foul. In fact, it's so much of an instinct that I don't believe defensive players even realize the benefits of letting it go foul. It's just become something that they should do. If the ball could go foul- let it go foul.

However, there is a very good reason to allow a ball to go foul. It's simply to prevent the runner from beating out a base hit. But, what if the batter doesn't run?

In a game played last night there was a ball hit close to the foul line and the shortstop (a college bound player) yelled "let it go foul." Meanwhile, the batter that hit the ball was still standing in the batters box.

I contend that sometimes players need to think about why they say what they say. This is one of those times. It's great to let the ball go foul if the batter would have himself an infield single but defensive players would be well served to notice just exactly what the offense is doing.