Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 30, 2007
The Value of a Stolen Base

Vin Scully made a good point tonight. With Chris Young on the mound, the Dodgers are running wild. They've stolen four bases tonight, and on the season base stealers are 24 for 24 with Young on the mound. But has it made a difference? Yes, the Dodgers scored two runs, both after steals. But Young has only allowed three hits, and the steals did not produce big innings. But a Kouzmanoff three-run homer has the Padres up 5-2.

Young is doing nothing to shut down the running game, but his ERA after three innings today is 2.21. The opposition is hitting just .193 against him. There's no real reason for Young to care about the running game. If the people behind the base stealers don't get hits, there's little chance of the them scoring. It's interesting that runners are doing so well against Young, but it's more interesting that it doesn't seem to matter.


Posted by David Pinto at 12:00 AM | Base Running • | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Young has actually been interviewed about this and says he doesn't care - he even brandishes the stats to prove it - that stealing 2nd only improves ones chances of scoring by 18%. It's refreshing that a pitcher understands that and doesn't get all pissed off when the likes of Juan Pierre steal 3 bases in a game. Young sees the bigger picture, which might explain why he's 8-3 with a 2.14 ERA.

Posted by: David at June 30, 2007 04:43 AM
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