Who’s the best baserunner in the game? Lee Panas at Tiger Tales conducted a statistical survey, and found Jose Reyes to be rounding third with the rest of MLB scattered between home and second. In the AL, Johnny Damon (3) and Alex Rodriguez (7) are both in the top 10. Boston’s Coco Crisp ranked fifth, and Julio Lugo also made it onto the leaderboard. (No sign of Jeter.) Hat tip to Alex Belth.
First to Third
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5 comments… add one
I would like to see a collection of worst baserunners. From what I’ve heard, Cano is downright awful on the basepaths.
This makes it a unanimous selection, then. Bill James also had Reyes as hands-down the best baserunner in baseball using a very similar system.
I can back up that statement, Andrew. Cano always looks confused on the basepaths, very similar to the way Manny is. I can’t wait to see where Ellsbury ranks when he starts playing full-time. I’m sure he’ll be up in the top 10.
I’ve always considered Jeter a terrific baserunner, but it seemed to me he had a subpar season on the pads last year–i don’t know why–and the discrepancy was only magnified by A-Rod’s sheer brilliance. His baserunning last year was better than anything I can recall, just in term of sheer smarts. I wish we had gotten to see more of Damon in action.
“but it seemed to me he had a subpar season on the pads last year–i don’t know why”
I think Jeter’s knee affected all parts of his game last season. Hopefully, it’s improved for this season.