Athleticism
..............................
In his latest article at Bill James Online, co-author John Dewan discusses the best baserunning teams in the majors:
The Atlanta Braves are in the thick of the National League playoff race and can thank good baserunning for part of that. The Braves rank first in the 2012 Baserunning Net Gain statistic featured annually in the Bill James Handbook. Baserunning Net Gain evaluates each player's opportunities to advance on hits and avoid outs on the basepaths, crediting him for the bases advanced better than average and penalizing him triple for baserunning outs. Led by outfielders Michael Bourn and Martin Prado, the Braves have a team Net Gain of +54, comfortably above the second-best Oakland Athletics.
Top Baserunning Teams, 2012 Team Net Gain Braves +54 Athletics +46 Giants +30 Mariners +28 Phillies +26
.
In terms of baserunning - not stolen bases - the 2012 Seattle Mariners are motoring around the bases at drag-race speed. Man on first, long single between the outfielders, the local nine are more likely than just about anybody to spin around for a 1st-and-3rd. Considering that my man Jesus Montero cannot reach second base on a double, I'd say the other dozen guys must be into time warps.
.......................
The 2012 Mariners have been famously good at fielding batted balls. As measured by UZR/150, they rank 4th of 30 major league teams. Wow: a team built on speed and defense, eh?
......................
You probably got to the punch line before I did: Jack Zduriencik didn't build this team around small players. The 2012 Mariners are essentially home run hitters. Zduriencik, having a choice between outfield and infield with Dustin Ackley, put him in the infield. The 2012 Mariners, having a choice between LF and CF with Michael Saunders, put him in CF. Their Opening Day lineup was a typical Zduriencik player, Mike Carp, a power-hitting lefty.
The 2012 Mariners have 51 homers in 43 road games, which is the road HR rate typical of a 200-220 homer team. Texas has 41 homers in 38 road games. Zduriencik has put a whale of a lot of effort into putting homer-prone ballplayers into the lineup throughout.
How could a team that was selected for its lefty power --- > also be a speed-and-defense team?
Zdurienik likes him some athletes.
......................
The 1970's and 1980's Mariners liked athletes too, Marc Newfield types. Zduriencik likes athletes who can also play baseball. As Mariners fans, we should all be clear about Zduriencik's stylistic tendencies. Furbush and Wilhelmsen, for example, are here because of those stylistic tendencies; the pre-Zduriencik M's would have gone nowhere near either pitcher.
... by the way, Casper Wells' OBP is .365 right now. Players with comparable OPS+ lines include Shin-Soo Choo, Curtis Granderson and Ben Zobrist. Andre Ethier, from the other side, produces at a level comparable to Wells' part-time production in 2012.