It seems like every time I tune into the Pirates of late, somebody is making an out on the basepaths. In particular, speedsters Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen have been caught stealing with regularity and Garrett Jones has given a new face to the popular acronym TOOTBLAN (Thrown Out On Base Like A Nincompoop). But, what do the actual statistics tell us?
Well, it's a mixed bag really. Pittsburgh is really bad in the stolen base department. They are last in the NL in steals (56), first in caught stealing (43) and last in stolen base percentage (57%). They are also second in the league in being picked off when there's a stolen base opportunity (1.29%). They're pretty good at taking the extra base (43%), but last in the league in scoring from first on a double (21 times). Remarkably, they are the best in the league in outs on base (30), meaning they don't run into outs much aside from being picked off or caught stealing.
All in all, the Pirates are not as bad on the basepaths as I thought. They are woeful in the stolen base department, and that needs to change; but they aren't making a lot of careless outs beyond that. I feel like I've seen my share of them, but it's likely that the bad ones just stick out in my memory. Plus, you never think about baserunning when the players do what they're supposed to do. Beyond that, the Pirates are pretty good at taking the extra base, tied for fourth in the NL in fact. Hopefully, any missteps the Pirates have made lately are just drops in the bucket. Things better settle down soon, though, as the Pirates need to be firing on all cylinders if they're going to remain in the Wild Card race.
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