SF Giants Baserunning was Middle of the Pack

[Rog]

According to Bill James' 2017 Baseball Handbook, the Giants' 2016 baserunning was in the middle of the pack.  With a net game of 23  bases, the Giants ranked 14th among the 30 major league teams.

Surprisingly, the Giants were opportunistic in advancing in non base hit situations, leading the majors with 201 advancements.  On the other hand, they were worst in the majors by being doubled off 18 times.  Their 29 times out advancing, the stolen base gain of a net seven bases and their 119 grounded into double plays were in the middle.

With regard to taking the extra base, the Giants were also in the middle.  They advanced from first to third on a single 27% of the time, or just below the 29% league average.  They scored from second on a single at a 57% rate, a little below the league average of 60%.  They scored from first base on a double 46% of the time, or a little above the league average of 43%.  


In other words, the Giants weren't a base-to-base team.  They were excellent in advancing without the benefit of a hit or steal.  They were more or less average in stealing and in advancing on hits.  Overall, they were average, which isn't too bad for a team we look at as as being a bit too base-to-base and not stealing enough.

[Rog]

Last season we would probably have thought of Gregor Blanco, Matt Duffy, Eduardo Nunez, Angel Pagan, Hunter Pence, Denard Span and Kelby Tomlinson as the Giants' best base runners. As it turns out, two of them were quite good ; two were good ; one was average; and two were poor. Which base runners do we think were in which category?

Among the slower runners -- Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Joe Panik and Buster Posey -- none was horrible; but two were below-average; one was good; and one was good to very good. Which do we think were which?

[Rog]

Buster Posey isn't the best base runner in the game, but he was certainly a lot better last season than guys like Victor Martinez, David Ortiz or Yadier Molina, each of whom were true base cloggers. Martinez cost his team 34 bases, while Ortiz lost 32. Molina cost 28 bags.

Martinez moved from first to third on a single only an almost impossible twice in 31 chances, and scored from second base on a single only twice in 20 chances. Ortiz advanced from first to third on only two of 28 singles, and scored from second only four times out of 15. Molina didn't score from first a single time on nine doubles.

Despite their lack of aggressiveness, Martinez and Molina were each thrown out on the bases five times, with Ortiz being nailed on six occasions.

Posey cost the Giants only four bases. He was minus 8 baserunning, but was a plus four in steals, for a net of minus four. That's actually pretty good for a catcher. Shockingly, it was better than either Hunter Pence or Matt Duffy, both of whom came in at minus seven bags.

Who would have thought that Pence and Duffy, usually good base runners, would be the two worst on the Giants in 2016? That isn't to say they won't be good again in 2017, but neither was very good last season.

No one would think that base running would have been a NEGATIVE for Pence or Duffy if they were lead off hitters, but it was last season. Incredibly, from a base running standpoint, Buster would have been better than either Hunter or Matt. Duffy might have benefited from leading off though in that he wouldn't have had as many chances to ground into double plays, which he's become rather prolific at doing. Even worse than Buster.