Rank the Twins Speed

[lightfoot789]

Based on the numbers and what you have seen:

RANK THE SPEED of the TWINS

40 Man Roster   ---   Stolen Bases SB Rate
John Ryan Murphy -   11 out of 20 - 55%
Oswaldo Arcia -   32 out of 57 - 56%
Trevor Plouffe -   56 out of 97 - 57%
Jorge Polanco -   56 out of 95 - 59%
Kennys Vargas -   3 out of 5 - 60%
Kurt Suzuki -   29 out of 46 - 63%
Eduardo Escobar -   90 out of 142 - 63%
Eddie Rosario -   81 out of 125 - 64%
Danny Santana -   152 out of 216 - 70%
Miguel Sano -   34 out of 48 - 70%
Brian Dozier -   102 out of 140 - 72%
Byung Ho Park -   59 out of 81 - 72%
Byron Buxton -   96 out of 125 - 76%
Joe Mauer -   55 out of 72 - 76%
Adam Walker -   36 out of 45 - 80%
Max Kepler -   41 out of 49 - 83%
Eduardo Nunez -   200 out of 230 - 87%

[stringer bell]

Per Terry Ryan, Buxton is the fastest player he's ever had in the Twins' organization. On the 2-80, he's an 80. Santana has fine speed, Rosario runs well and Dozier runs okay, but is both a smart baserunner and has a fairly high base stealing percentage.

[BoomBoom]

I like judging speed based on guys scoring from 1st on doubles.   Some guys use short power steps and other guys have long graceful strides yet cover ground quickly.  Having seen Buxton, Kepler and Walker last year, they have long graceful strides and can cover some ground in a hurry.

[KirbyDaisy]

Interesting that so many so called sluggers and have the better percentages.

[bird]

Base-stealing stats aren't very good at telling the speed story. However, I found it interesting and maybe a bit troubling to see such low success percentages from a few of the players you'd expect to excel at swiping a base. Anyone else have ideas about that?

[Seth Stohs]

 

Based on the numbers and what you have seen:

RANK THE SPEED of the TWINS

40 Man Roster   ---   Stolen Bases SB Rate
John Ryan Murphy -   11 out of 20 - 55%
Oswaldo Arcia -   32 out of 57 - 56%
Trevor Plouffe -   56 out of 97 - 57%
Jorge Polanco -   56 out of 95 - 59%
Kennys Vargas -   3 out of 5 - 60%
Kurt Suzuki -   29 out of 46 - 63%
Eduardo Escobar -   90 out of 142 - 63%
Eddie Rosario -   81 out of 125 - 64%
Danny Santana -   152 out of 216 - 70%
Miguel Sano -   34 out of 48 - 70%
Brian Dozier -   102 out of 140 - 72%
Byung Ho Park -   59 out of 81 - 72%
Byron Buxton -   96 out of 125 - 76%
Joe Mauer -   55 out of 72 - 76%
Adam Walker -   36 out of 45 - 80%
Max Kepler -   41 out of 49 - 83%
Eduardo Nunez -   200 out of 230 - 87%

 

Buxton is incredibly fast. OK base stealer. Not great.

 

Santana is the second fastest.

 

Rosario, Kepler, Escobar, Nunez and Polanco are the net tier. Rosario has never been a good base stealer, but he is a good base runner, in my opinion. All four of these guys are smart baseball speed guys. Dozier probably fits in this category too.

 

Mauer isn't fast, but he's always been a tremendous base runner.

 

Adam Walker got caught once in college and didn't get caught stealing until his third minor league season. Since then, he hasn't really been able to surprise anyone. 

[TNLooky2015]

 

Buxton is incredibly fast. OK base stealer. Not great.

 

Santana is the second fastest.

 

Rosario, Kepler, Escobar, Nunez and Polanco are the net tier. Rosario has never been a good base stealer, but he is a good base runner, in my opinion. All four of these guys are smart baseball speed guys. Dozier probably fits in this category too.

 

Mauer isn't fast, but he's always been a tremendous base runner.

 

Adam Walker got caught once in college and didn't get caught stealing until his third minor league season. Since then, he hasn't really been able to surprise anyone. 

 

I agree with much of what Seth says here.  I also agree with Boom and like to see guys run around the bases.  Some guys get out of the box extremely fast like Buxton and some guys are better going first to third.  Walker is so long and takes such big strides that he appears to take off for his slides half way between the bases .  Kepler like Buxton just glides.  Polanco speed is misleading.  He runs better once he gets started.  Not fast from home to first and not fast stealing bases, but scores lots of runs yearly.

 

Base stealing doesn't tell all, but does give you a blueprint of guys who are probably instinctual on the bases.  FYI - Counting his NCAA career, collegiate summer ball, AFL, and minor league career, Walker is 91 for 109 in stolen base attempts.   Like Seth stated above.  Impressive

[Liquidator]

Nunez and Polanco need chin straps on their helmets.  They might run faster.

[h2oface]

It sure seems that for all the speed that is touted, the Twins have difficulty getting from 1st to 3rd on singles, even singles to right, and also scoring from first on a double. I don't have stats to back that up, but in so many games, the opposing team would do it, and the Twins would not. Also, I really expected that the stolen bases would be coming last year with Molitor as the manager, but alas, that was a dream, too.

[Dantes929]

 

It sure seems that for all the speed that is touted, the Twins have difficulty getting from 1st to 3rd on singles, even singles to right, and also scoring from first on a double. I don't have stats to back that up, but in so many games, the opposing team would do it, and the Twins would not. Also, I really expected that the stolen bases would be coming last year with Molitor as the manager, but alas, that was a dream, too.

Rosario might disagree with your statement about the other teams taking additional bases.

[The Wise One]

 

Rosario might disagree with your statement about the other teams taking additional bases.

Twins were second in the league for outfield assists. Now consider that the Twins pitchers had one of the lowest GB% and the lowest K%. The outfield was busy, thus had more chances for putouts and runners taking bases. You both may be right on this one.

[TNLooky2015]

 

It sure seems that for all the speed that is touted, the Twins have difficulty getting from 1st to 3rd on singles, even singles to right, and also scoring from first on a double. I don't have stats to back that up, but in so many games, the opposing team would do it, and the Twins would not. 

 

The minor league teams of Buxton; Kepler; Polanco; Walker; and others never had problems taking extra bases.  Maybe that's why they always scored more than the other teams in their respective leagues.  Youth movement is here.  I mention those 4 because they appeared to be at the top of the league in scoring every year.  They challenged outfield arms all the time.  They didn't steal much but did steal effectively.  

 

I would like to know if the Twins have races in ST to see who are the faster players in camp?

[h2oface]

 

Rosario might disagree with your statement about the other teams taking additional bases.

 

I guess that is a no comment on the Twins' speed and on the Twins not taking the extra bases themsleves?

[BoomBoom]

Buxton in 4 minor league seasons totaled 108 XBH in 276 games (.39 / pg)

80 of his XBH are doubles and triples / 28 home runs / & .78 runs / pg

33% of hits are XBHs

 

Kepler in 6 minor league seasons totaled 163 XBH in 427 games (.38 / pg)

129 of his XBH are doubles and triples / 34 home runs / & .59 runs / pg

36% of hits are XBHs

 

Rosario in 6 minor league seasons totaled 194 XBH in 450 games (.43 / PG)

134 of his XBH are doubles and triples / 60 home runs / & .67 runs / pg

36% of hits are XBHs

 

Walker in 4 minor league seasons totaled 200 XBH in 452 games (.44 / pg)

103 of his XBH are doubles and triples / 97 home runs / & .61 runs / pg

45%% of hits are XBHs

 

We know Buxton is possibly the fastest guy in baseball, so we know what he can do when healthy.  The rest of the guys get their share of doubles, triples, and runs too.  These guys put themselves in scoring position by themselves.  Who needs small ball - Lol

[jorgenswest]

Eddie Rosario had the teams best percentage of taking an extra base on a hit (2 bases on a single, 3 on a double). He did it at a rate of 61%. League average is 38%. Twins 37%. The Bill James Handbook also had Rosario as the Twins best base runner with their measure.

 

I don't know about the reliability of the two measures but they confirm what my untrained eye saw in Rosario's ability to take an extra base last summer. He reminded me of Cesar Tovar.

[shs_59]

I'll take a crack at it, just my instinctive observations....

 

Buxton - 80

Nunez - 70

Rosario - 70

Escobar - 65

Kepler - 60

Dozier - 60

A.B. Walker - ?  60 ? ( i really have no clue about Walker in this area)

Sano - 55

Plouffe - 50

Mauer - 50/45  (but gets the 50 because of intelligence)

Park - 45

Vargas - 40  (could be a 30?)

[Liquidator]

I would bet Kepler & Walker are faster than Escobar and maybe as fast as Rosario.  Walker beats out several DP opportunities.

[Dantes929]

 

I guess that is a no comment on the Twins' speed and on the Twins not taking the extra bases themsleves?

I guess I didn't notice a deficiency in taking the extra bases.    I thought they were fairly aggressive and I don't feel like they got thrown out a lot, except for Buxton.  Just my own eye test.     Plouffe, Susuke, Hunter and Arcia appeared to be pretty slow but Buxton, Rosario, Santana are burners with Escobar, Sano, and Dozier coming in at average or better.    Overall, I would say that when we have Buxton and Rosario our team speed is decent but what really hurts is that as a team the Twins don't get on base enough to use what speed they have.     Getting thrown out gets magnified when just getting on base is too rare.    Mauer and Sano were the only guys that got on base at a decent rate.    You can't steal first base.

[Liquidator]

Hit doubles like Mauer and score from second.

[Dantes929]

 

Hit doubles like Mauer and score from second.

Hit doubles like Mauer and score from second on Sano's homers.

[TNLooky2015]

 

Hit doubles like Mauer and score from second on Sano's homers.

Hard to believe ABWII had 8 more homers than Sano at the time Sano got the call up from same AA team.  Extra base hits always limit the use/need for small ball.  Useful speed and top run scorers have to have some correlation in overall picture.

[Liquidator]

Based on speed, who is better where?

Rosario LF / Sano or Kepler RF

Rosario RF / Sano or Kepler LF

[BoomBoom]

Besides speed, is Buxton the only one with a vertical, who anyone can envision climbing the wall and robbing HRs (ala spiderman).  It's a shame they we equate quality outfields by who can make the basic plays.  Sound is good, but athletic is better.

[Thrylos]

 

Besides speed, is Buxton the only one with a vertical, who anyone can envision climbing the wall and robbing HRs (ala spiderman).  It's a shame they we equate quality outfields by who can make the basic plays.  Sound is good, but athletic is better.

 

You should really watch some Kirby video.  It shows that some <5'8", >200 lb people can have some vertical

[TNLooky2015]

Kirby was a Bad Man, but Kirby was also a special athlete.  Who do we have with that type of vertical and speed combination (athleticism)?  I love the football video on another recent thread.  Many of our guys look so uncomfortable catching a football.