Padre Baserunning - The Ugly Truth

Padre baserunning has made FF cringe all season. Friday night provided a couple examples with Padres getting tossed at third twice when they would later score, thereby losing potential runs. So how do the Padres fair on the bases when we look at the stats? Bad, real bad. According to 2006 statistics supplied by sabermetrics inventor Bill James in "The Bill James Handbook 2007", here are 6 factors that we can look at to get the gist of a player's baserunning capabilities:

1. Taking 3rd from 1st on a single (Mike Cameron excels at this)
2. Scoring on a single when at second
3. Scoring on a double when at first
4. Taking advantage of defensive miscues (balks, wild pitches, defensive indifference, etc)
5. Making outs while baserunning
6. Percentage of time scoring runs when on base

James' system will give the average baserunner a score of 0. Positive numbers are above average, negative numbers below. Only players who reached base at least 50 times are listed in James' book. Here are the current Padres listed, ranked best to worst, by James' system:

• Marcus Giles +16
• Mike Cameron +12
• Geoff Blum +3
• Milton Bradley 0
• Morgan Ensburg -1
• Rob Mackoviak -3
• Josh Bard -7
• Brian Giles -8
• Michael Barret -9
• Khalil Green -14
• Adrian Gonzalez -24

For a little context, the top score in the entire league was Chone Figgins at +28 while the bottom score was -30 Josh Willingham (Gonzalez was second worst). Baserunning certainly isn't the most important aspect of baseball. But it is an opportunity to put your team in position to squeeze out extra runs. These stats might give us a clue why Marcus Giles transforms the team when he's getting on base. Of course, these stats, as James recognizes, are not the perfect measure of baserunning. For instance, FF recognizes that Brian Giles breaks up a double play as well as anyone, even though he grades out well below the average MLB baserunner.

One other interesting note is that Bud Black doesn't appear to be blind to these stats. He's routinely had the top baserunners at the top of the lineup - and we thank him for that. Now if the team could manage to be a bit more average rather than weigh in at a -3 as a team.