Speed

[gmelson26]

It's a lot of fun to watch.  More so than the K, BB, or HR baseball.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, gmelson26 said:

It's a lot of fun to watch.  More so than the K, BB, or HR baseball.

Villar strikes out at a significantly higher rate than Schoop.

[Santandah]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Villar strikes out at a significantly higher rate than Schoop.

I think Atomic has taken over Frobby's account.

[jubbyjubb]

Speed and aggressiveness on the base paths make it exciting. Now we need to get the rest of the guys on board.

2nd inning, 1 out with Davis on 1st. Nunez bounces one slowly to right. Davis takes a few steps, looks at the ball and trots to 2nd. I would prefer running hard and looking at your 3rd base coach. That was a spot where I would like to see it pressed. 

[LA2]

Bumbry and Coggins in 1973 was very exciting.

A year later we traded the latter, along with a washed-up Dave McNally, for Ken Singleton and Mike Torrez. That's never mentioned as a great Oriole trade but should be!

[ScGO's]

13 hours ago, OrangeBlackBird said:

Seeing Mullins and Villar hit back-to-back gave me visions of Brady and Devereaux (their younger versions).  One of the best parts of our rebuild is seeing a renewed focus on speed.  It absolutely can be a difference maker.  It’s been missing for a long time.

I'd love to see Villar steal 60 bases in a season for us.  More running, bunting, and defense would be fun to see in the rebuild.

[Going Underground]

11 hours ago, Frobby said:

Villar strikes out at a significantly higher rate than Schoop.

Beckham was 15th in the majors in K's last year. Davis of course and Trumbo. They will still strikeout many times. At least have a few guys with speed.

[LA2]

19 hours ago, Frobby said:

Villar strikes out at a significantly higher rate than Schoop.

Which raises the Q of who can we bat behind Mullins (once he's somewhere near the top of the lineup) that won't strike out so much that it shuts down his ability to steal. Only Manny and Adam had decent K stats this year.

[Lucky_13]

57 minutes ago, LA2 said:

Which raises the Q of who can we bat behind Mullins (once he's somewhere in the top of the lineup) that won't strike out so much that it shuts down Mullins' ability to steal. Only Manny and Adam had decent K stats this year.

DJ Stewart. He's struggling  at AAA but he knows how to control the strike zone. No one on the mlb roster right now seems to fit. Although when Mancini is hot I'd bat him 2nd. 

[Ripken]

We had an rbi bunt last night.  It may have been our most exciting play all season.  

[Tx Oriole]

15 hours ago, OrangeBlackBird said:

Seeing Mullins and Villar hit back-to-back gave me visions of Brady and Devereaux (their younger versions).  One of the best parts of our rebuild is seeing a renewed focus on speed.  It absolutely can be a difference maker.  It’s been missing for a long time.

That is good thing to have.

[Tx Oriole]

13 hours ago, Frobby said:

Villar strikes out at a significantly higher rate than Schoop.

How many seasons has Villar played? Maybe he will get better the longer he plays.

[Tx Oriole]

11 minutes ago, Ripken said:

We had an rbi bunt last night.  It may have been our most exciting play all season.  

Was that Mullins who bunted?

[Ohfan67]

I love watching speedy players. I think the stolen base is one of the most exciting plays in baseball. But it’s highly over rated on offense in terms of generating runs. Several studies have shown this and that’s why teams run so much less. Brian Roberts was a good Oriole example. Wonderful stolen base totals. He seemed to steal third at will in his prime. Added almost nothing to putrid Oriole teams. So I love watching fast players play, but high OBP and power is where it’s really at. I hope Mullins brings more of a complete game,  But I will enjoy watching the speed. 

[Greg Pappas]

Ideally a team can have a combination of quality team Speed, OBP, Power, Pitching and Defense, though teams typically check off only a few of those- at most.  I think the most important single batting attribute for any team should be OBP. Secondary to that, however,  one can have a team built more on Speed than Power, as it (great team speed) has been done effectively in the past. 

I'm going by memory here, but I believe it was the mid-80's St. Louis Cardinals  that I used to admire a great deal for their speed.  Vince Coleman, Andy Van Slyke, Willie McGee, Tommy Herr, Lonnie Smith, Ozzie Smith, and even Terry Pendleton, stole bases at a great to solid clip. It was the "Whiteyball" era, named after manager Whitey Herzog and his efforts in constructing those teams.  That then-endearing term wouldn't play well today.

It'd be interesting to see a similar process developed here, but even if we don't have five or six stolen base guys down the road, having better overall team speed would be a positive.