ESPN: Diamondbacks are MLB’s 3rd-best baserunning team
Aug 17, 2016, 4:00 PM | Updated: 4:21 pm
New York Mets third baseman T.J. Rivera, left, chases Arizona Diamondbacks Jean Segura between third and home during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, in New York. Segura was caught off third, and tried to steal home. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Last week’s historic series of steals against the New York Mets reaffirmed that the Arizona Diamondbacks are one of the more aggressive baserunning teams in baseball.
Just where do they stand? And how is their roster constructed to make them a threat on the basepaths?
ESPN’s David Schoenfield took a snapshot of the five best and five worst baserunning teams in MLB, and Arizona ranked as the third-best with 12.5 runs above the average gained from its baserunning.
Key stats: Fifth in steals, 43 percent extra-base rate, only nine games thrown out at home (MLB average is 13, Brewers lead with 21).
Key contributors: Jean Segura (+4.8 runs), Chris Owings (+2.5), Chris Herrmann (+1.8). Segura is the only big positive, but Yasmany Tomas (-2.5) and Brandon Drury (-1.8) are the only weak spots.
Segura leads the D-backs with 24 stolen bases on the year and is ahead of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt’s 17 and Michael Bourn and Owings’ 12.
It appears the D-backs, even down to Tomas with the telling nickname El Tanque, don’t have regular batters who are liabilities running the bases.
For more evidence to that point: starting pitchers Zack Greinke and Braden Shipley have a steal each this season.
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