Nobody is talking about speed - SPEED KILLS

[KOHG]

People seem to be looking for reasons for the twins success this season. Yeah, having even a remotely decent starting rotation helps, but something i think that people are over looking is team speed, not individual speed but team speed. Something that the stats and variable don't put enough weight on. Think about it... what can team speed do for a team....

 

1) Stretch a single into a double.

2) Ability to take that extra base from 1st to 3rd.

3) Maybe stay out of a double play.

4) Get an infield hit.

5) Put the runners in motion.

6) Able to tag from 1st to 2nd or from 2nd to 3rd taking the extra base

7) RANGE - ESPECIALLY IN THE OUTFIELD - A DOUBLE TURNS INTO FLY OUT

8) Range defense can turn a double into single for the opposition.

9) Stolen bases, not the be end and end all, but can be a positive that puts pressure on the opposition pitcher and defense.

10) Range and speed can turn looping singles into sliding catches.

etc.....

11) The opposition defense may have to play in opening up the field. 

 

Molitor Baseball!

 

Now look at the twins players with what I would say plus average speed. Rosario, Hicks, Dozier, Santana, Schafer, Nunez and Robinson... Hunter, Mauer, Trevor, and Suzuki, are not Bartolo Colon either. 

 

Think how many times in a single game that a few of those 11 situation can occur in a game! Now replace those situation with Willingham, Arcia, Vargas. Those guys have to put up pretty great numbers to justify their short comings and lack of speed which up to this point they haven't so far - in the case of Vargas and Arcia. (Willingham did for one season) SPEED KILLS and this twins team has it. Just not the complete emphasis on stolen bases. I think that team speed is a major reason for the twins success this season and should be considered going forward in the present baseball state and future roster decision.   

[jimbo92107]

Good point, except for two things. One, speed without expert skill is kind of wasted, as in Santana's and Hicks's struggles at the plate. Two, the general reluctance of this team to steal bases makes all that speed meaningless. The fast guys you mentioned - Rosario, Hicks, Dozier, Santana, Schafer, Nunez and Robinson - should all have a permanent green light to take off if they think they've got a good chance to beat a pitcher's move to the plate. Santana and Hicks especially should be stealing a lot more.

 

Generally speaking tho, speed is better than slowness. Unless your slow guys are hitting 40 home runs a year.

[h2oface]

I sure would like to see the speedsters steal some bases. The whole team has only 19 (including ones that could have been defensive indifference but weren't ruled that), and worse than that, they have been thrown out 15 times! They are making catchers look great. I really expected to see a great stealing team with Molitor as manager.

[Otto von Ballpark]

By Fan graphs BsR base running runs, which I believe incorporates stealing as well as ROE, advancement, taking extra bases, etc, we are 20th in MLB at -2 runs.

 

We were first in MLB by the same measure in 2014, with +21.2 runs over the season.