Pirates rookie first baseman Will Craig on his epic error in rundown: 'I messed up'

A day after the biggest blunder of his baseball career went from a rundown choke into a running joke, Pittsburgh Pirates rookie first baseman Will Craig took full responsibility for his epic error against the Chicago Cubs.

Craig’s chaotic chase of Javier Baez toward home plate in the third inning in the 5-3 loss to the Cubs on Thursday afternoon at PNC Park became one of the top stories in the sports world, as a Little League mistake was magnified on a major league stage.

“I replayed that probably 100-plus times in my head, exactly what happened,” Craig said Friday afternoon on a video conference call. “Of course, I’m going to end up on a blooper reel for the rest of my life, probably. … I just keep moving forward with it, and I think the best way to do it is kind of just accept it head on. Don’t deny it. Don’t shy away from it. It happened.”

What should have been the final out — a routine grounder to third, turned into one of the wildest plays in baseball history. When the throw by Erik Gonzalez pulled Craig off first base, Baez turned and ran slowly in the opposite direction, toward home plate. Craig, to his everlasting regret, made chase instead of simply stepping on first base.

“I messed up, “ Craig said. “I came off the bag and caught the ball, turned to look and saw him bolt towards home, and I just kind of lost my mind for a second. … It just kind of all went downhill from there.”

As Craig pursued Baez, Willson Contreras ran from second base to home. When Craig finally tossed the ball to catcher Michael Perez, his throw was high and Contreras slid under the tag of Perez.

Baez then sprinted to first, which was left uncovered. Pirates second baseman Adam Frazier ran to cover first, but Perez made an errant throw that sailed into right field and allowed Baez to advance to second base. What should have been the final out of the inning allowed a run to score and a runner to put himself in scoring position.

“As soon as I released the ball, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing? I know better than that,’ ” Craig said. “It’s simple Baseball 101. But I guess in my mind when I saw him running back, I just kind of lost my mind for a second.”

That second felt like it lasted a lifetime, as the play trended on social media, became talk-show fodder and the lowlight of sports highlight shows. Pirates manager Derek Shelton didn’t excuse Craig’s error but didn’t want to dwell on one play amid a six-game losing streak.

“I watched it one time, just to see the whole play,” Shelton said. “Didn’t get any better. It’s a play we screwed up, and we’ll move forward. I guarantee you’ll never see it again.”

Shelton, however, knows better than to believe Craig’s gaffe is going away anytime soon. In fact, Shelton predicted the play would become a staple of fundamental instruction videos of what not to do in such a situation. The biggest problem is Craig took Baez’s bait, making chase instead of taking the easy out. Craig’s lapse had a ripple effect, as Perez, Frazier and even shortstop Kevin Newman were slow to react and made mistakes the Cubs capitalized on.

“I’m pretty sure this play is going to be used not just in the Pirates organization but in every level of baseball, in every organization,” Shelton said. “Part of it is, ‘Don’t watch the play.’ I think a lot of people got caught watching the play because it had never happened before. It’s one of those things that happens one time, then you realize, ‘All right, we need to cover it differently.’ We will do that next time.”

Craig said Shelton and Pirates field coordinator Mike Rabelo talked to him about the play in the dugout during the game. Craig wasn’t expecting Shelton to call after the game but appreciated that his manager checked on him to see how he was handling the pressure.

“I felt really encouraged by that, for him to reach out to me,” Craig said. “He knows how much pride I take in my defense, how much I really care about it. Obviously, that play was a freak play, but he just wanted to make sure that moving forward, ‘We’ve got your back. We’re behind you. We know how hard you work and how much you care.’ That was kind of a big thing for me to have him have my back in that way.”

What Shelton reminded Craig was the play was out of character for the 2016 first-round pick with a reputation as a strong defensive first baseman. Craig won the 2019 minor leagues Rawlings Gold Glove, thanks to a .999 fielding percentage with Triple-A Indianapolis that ranked as the best of any first baseman in the majors or minors.

The 26-year-old rookie has played 15 games in the majors, the past 13 out of necessity after Colin Moran (groin) and Phillip Evans (hamstring) were injured within four days of one another. Where some called for Craig to be optioned back to Indianapolis, Shelton said he planned to keep Craig in the starting lineup before Friday’s game against the Colorado Rockies was postponed because of inclement weather.

“He made a mistake. That’s it,” Shelton said.

“You don’t option a guy just because of the fact that he made a mistake. We make mistakes all the time in all realms of life.

“We talked to him about it. It just happened to be something that nobody’s ever seen before.”