If any of you have ever played baseball, then you know it’s a funny sport. There are superstitions – like don’t step on the white lines – and rituals – just go to a Stanford game and watch the players on the bench do their “rallies” to see some of those. Most importantly, however, baseball is a game of peaks and valleys.

Sometimes you’ll hit the ball as hard you can, and it will go right at someone, and you’ll be out. Other times you’ll take a mighty swing only to hit the ball five feet, but just far enough to let you beat out an infield single.

Having gone to and covered Stanford baseball games for a few years now, I start to wonder to what degree head coach Mark Marquess – or “Nine” as he prefers to be called – subscribes to the luck factor of baseball.

Take the games on Friday and Saturday against USC. On Friday junior Ben Clowe went 0-4, despite hitting three balls about as hard as humanly possible right at Trojan defenders. Where was he on Saturday? The bench. Freshman Tyler Gaffney, on the other hand, went 3-5 without hitting the ball past the infield. Where was he Saturday? Hitting in the three-spot in the lineup.

I’m not suggesting Gaffney should have been on the bench Saturday, but the law of averages and any baseball statistician would both suggest that Clowe was destined to get some hits with the way he was batting.

Unfortunately college coaching statistics aren’t kept, but I would wager a fair chunk of change that Marquess annually leads the country in substitutions made, and he definitely leads in pinch hitters used prior to the sixth inning.

If a player has one bad at-bat, that might be it for him for the day. There is no trying to get a feel for a pitcher, or making adjustments. Instead, it’s put up or shut up – unless you are one of Nine’s boys, a group I will try to identify later on.

Players trying to carve their way into Stanford’s starting lineup are routinely given one chance, and one chance only, to crack the lineup.

Take opening day of the 2009 season. Both Kellen McColl and J.J. Jelmini were in the starting lineup and didn’t have particularly good games. When did they start again last season? Never. That is 54 games on the bench of a team that drastically underachieved.

Why would Marquess start two players the first game of the year – indicating they both had good off-seasons – but never again, even when the team was under-performing?

I know this sounds crazy questioning a coaching legend, two-time national champion and Hall-of-Famer, because he clearly must be doing something right. In fact, he has used the juggling act in recent years successfully, like two years ago when the four-man platoon in left and right field of Brendan Domaracki, Toby Gerhart, Jeff Whitlow and Joey August helped Stanford to the College World Series.

That said, his trigger is incredibly short. Take junior Kellen Kiilsgaard for example. Kiilsgaard was arguably Stanford’s best offensive player last season, earning him First-Team All-Pacific-10 Honors. So after a rocky start to this season, where is Kiilsgaard? Buried somewhere deep on Stanford’s outfield depth chart.

So when Clowe’s 0-4 with three seeds on Friday was deemed insufficient by Marquess, he didn’t turn to Kiilsgaard to replace him in left field, he turned to freshman Justin Ringo, a player that had one at-bat on Friday, a pinch-hitting appearance in which he failed to get a runner home from third with less than two outs… which earned him a start the following day.

That brings me to the only criterion that I can come up with that allows some players much longer leashes than others – youth. It makes sense to play younger players so they can develop and they will be part of the program for a few more years. But playing them when they aren’t ready or when there is a viable alternative may not be the best idea.

Freshman center fielder Jake Stewart is a good example of this. Stewart clearly has tremendous potential, but he has struggled with the bat in the early season. He continues to be trotted out there to center, however, while other struggling older players like Kiilsgaard and Clowe have to play musical chairs on the bench.

Center field is obviously a very important position on the field defensively, and Stewart does a great job covering ground, but might Marquess try Gaffney in center, or junior Dave Giuliani, both very fast, athletic players, if Stewart continues to struggle? Doubtful. (It should be noted that Stewart did have three hits on Saturday, raising his season average to .250).

Senior Adam Gaylord is the contrary example. Marquess has had Gaylord for four years and probably understands what he can and can’t do on a baseball field, but Gaylord is hitting .550 this year in 20 at-bats and is still yet to earn a start. What does the guy have to do? Make chicken salad out of chicken… You get the idea.

Maybe this is all part of the plan, and maybe it will work in the long run, but I can’t imagine how difficult it must be as a player to try and find a rhythm in only an at-bat or two, never knowing when your next start may come.

Daniel Bohm was always benched for playground kickball and never got over it. Let him know he’s still special at [email protected].