Baseball is such a reactionary sport, baseball IQ and instincts are interchangeable.
There is a component that can be learned, but some of it can’t.
There was a great example of this in last night’s opening game against the Sox. The ground ball to Elvis Andrus with a runner on first. High-end baseball IQ instincts on display by Miranda and Andrus.
Miranda noticed Andrus in position to make a tag and get an easy double play, and stopped dead to delay the tag. There are a lot of baseball players, even in the MLB, who run into the tag, try to run around it, etc.
Andrus had the wherewithal to know Miranda stopped far enough away from second to recover, and got the out at first - allowing the first baseman to then get Miranda at second. I’m not sure there’s many, even in the MLB, that can process that play upstairs like Andrus did.
Fairly non-descript, but that’s baseball IQ in a nutshell.
You can also find an example of low baseball IQ last night. Billy Hamilton getting thrown out trying to steal third in a late-inning, tie-game situation after getting himself into scoring position. A guy we’ve seen tag and score from second on a deep fly ball.