The view from Baltimore: Royals’ speed is on the Orioles’ minds
All Orioles manager Buck Showalter had to do was watch the Royals’ comeback win over Oakland in the American League Wild Ccard game last week to see how dangerous his team’s AL Championship Series opponent can be on the base paths.
The Royals erased a four-run, sixth-inning deficit by running circles around the Athletics, stealing a postseason-record seven bases in the game on their way to a 9-8 win in 12 innings. They’ve been successful on 12 of 13 stolen-base attempts in the postseaso.
The Royals’ 153 stolen bases in the regular season led the majors, and they had an 81-percent success rate.
The Orioles haven’t faced the Royals since May, but in seven regular-season matchups, Kansas City was a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen bases.
“It’s kind of what they do, and they’re very good at it,” Showalter said. “What do they say, speed doesn’t go into a slump?”
The Royals’ speed makes the Orioles’ attempt to stop the running game important.
The Orioles have been without starting catcher Matt Wieters — who has been third in the AL in each of the previous three seasons in throwing out runners — for most of the year. But Wieters’ replacements, especially rookie Caleb Joseph, have excelled at stopping opponents’ running games.
The Kansas City base runners fly at a different pace, though. They had three players with at least 28 stolen bases in the regular season: Jarrod Dyson (36), Alcides Escobar (31) and Lorenzo Cain (28). Add in Norichika Aoki’s 17 steals and Alex Gordon’s 12, and the Royals have five players with a double-digit total. And in the postseason, the Royals added speedster Terrance Gore, who began the year at High-A Wilmington and was successful on 47 of 54 steal attempts in the minor leagues this season.
“We can't sit back and wait for a three-run homer or a two-run homer,” Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters before the AL Division Series, which the Royals won in three games over the Los Angeles Angels. “We've got to make stuff happen. We have to be aggressive on the base paths, and we have to try to take advantage of every situation to get into scoring position. When you do that, that's upsetting to the defense. It's upsetting to the pitchers. Now it's a distraction to the pitcher, and now he's trying to focus on the base runner. Even though they're four runs down, they still know they have to keep an eye on us, right?”
In Showalter’s system, fast pitcher delivery times to the plate are critical, as are catchers who can keep opposing base runners honest. It’s a focal point in spring training and a teaching priority in the minor-league system.
“Both our catchers behind the plate can throw guys out,” Orioles right-hander Bud Norris said. “All of our times (to the plate) are under 1.3 (seconds), so we can control the running game.”
As a team, the Orioles allowed 84 steals in the regular season, which is the fourth fewest in the AL, and their 27.6 throw-out percentage is sixth in the AL, slightly above the league average.
Joseph threw out 23 of 57 possible base stealers, an AL-leading 40.4 percent rate. Nick Hundley, who was acquired after Wieters’ injury, threw out just five of 27 base runners (19 percent) with the Orioles but 27 percent in his major-league career.
Hundley has played more recently — and probably will start the ALCS opener if right-hander Chris Tillman pitches. Joseph is in a zero-for-33 slump, including the postseason, and has three hits in his last 46 at-bats.
But against the Royals, Showalter said, the most important thing will be keeping their speedsters off the bases.
“It’s something that I’ll think about,” Showalter said about whom he will start behind the plate.
“But guys like (Terrance) Gore and (Jarrod) Dyson, they get on first base, there are a lot of really good throwing catchers, but it doesn’t really matter. . . . The guys who are really good, nobody’s really come up for a defense for that.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "The view from Baltimore: Royals’ speed is on the Orioles’ minds."