What is the problem?
Recent example -
Nate McLouth:
64-5 before joining the Braves. 93%
23-10 with the Braves. 70%
42-8 after leaving the Braves. 84%
This year? Heyward had six attempts (probably our best baserunner). BJ only seventeen.
As well as all that, we consistently don't take the extra base. Don't get good jumps. Diving into first. Bad reads.
Who is to blame? It is a ridiculous problem that seems to bite the Braves in the ass year after year.
Teheran_49 (10-29-2013), yeezus (10-29-2013)
I wonder if Doug Dascenzo (new third base coach) was brought on board to help with the running game. He was the roving baserunning and outfield defense coordinator for our minor league system.
Running seems to be contagious. When we had Bourn for a full season, he seemed to have an influence on Heyward and Prado.
Last edited by nsacpi; 10-29-2013 at 01:54 PM.
Excellent question. Very perplexing.Originally Posted by Dalyn
It is a good question. I remember them bringing Otis Nixon in during the spring for some pointers a couple of years ago. Oh Nate McLouth, how disappointing. I remember thinking how we got a steal of a trade and now Pittsburgh has 25% of their rotation from our farm system even though Morton was dealt in another trade.
It is really odd how bad we consistently look on the bases. I have no explanation, however.
Well, you are probably seeing the reason we have a "base running" coach as our third base coach now and Brian Snitker is coaching in AAA. Our two best baserunners according to fangraphs BsR stat were Justin upton and Jordan Schafer this past year.
BJ's decline in stolen base attempts has a pretty simple explanation, I imagine.
Cox was never a big fan of the stolen base. Wonder if it rubbed off on Fredi?
When he had guys, who could run, they generally had the green light. That short list includes Nixon, Grissom, but what happened in Lofton's year still has me shaking my head in disbelief. Don't think Bobby was against stealing bases, per se, but he didn't place a lot of emphasis on it when there wasn't a speed merchant available at CF (ie the Andruw Jones years). The organization was recognizing that speed was a team area that could be improved. This was why they drafted Schafer, then acquired Gorkys Hernandez, and, of course, flipped him for McLouth. You could even include Constanza on that list. Somebody must've expected the same of BJ Upton.
Yeah I think FG likes to run as every time Schafer was on base he let him take off every time. It's more of who we have confidence in and Schafer was easily our best runner. Heyward did well in 2012 but he had only 2 SB's with 4 CS. Justin probably should of ran more but with him in front of Freeman FG may have not of wanted to risk an out with our best run producer and hitter at the plate. We scored less runs in 2013 than we did in 2012 which is pretty bad though we had guys who got on base(Chipper and Bourn in the first half) which was a main reason.
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