The Miami Marlins have been the most successful team in Major League Baseball when going to instant replay this season.
Much of the credit goes to Pat Shine who serves officially as a Major League administrative coach. Shine is in charge of video replays for the Marlins and he is the man who lets bench coach Rob Leary know when a play should be challenged or not.
Shine joined the Marlins this season when the new replay system went into effect. Previously he has coached in the college ranks. While he is listed as a coach with the Marlins, he only is in uniform during pre-game and is not in the dugout during games.
This year, the Marlins have won 17 of their 21 attempted challenges. On each of those, Leary could be seen in the dugout on the phone with Shine who is back in a video room. When Leary is given the word, he informs manager Mike Redmond of the decision. Leary will tip his cap if the Marlins should challenge the play.
Under the rules that MLB has placed for instant replay, teams must decide if they are going to challenge within 30 seconds and before the next pitch is thrown. This gives Shine little time to examine replays and come to the all-important decision.
Three of the four failures for Miami came on force play challenges while the other was a tag play. On the other side of the coin, teams have initiated challenges against the Marlins 16 times this year. Those have been exactly even with Miami losing out on half of them.
A lot of games come down to one pitch and despite not being in the dugout, Shine has made a huge impact for the Marlins and is one of the main reasons they are in the playoff race.
