How much has team speed contributed to the O's winning record?

[wildcard]

Interested to hear your opinion.

Secondly,  Mateo and McKenna are two of the fastest players on the team.   Many have talked about them not being on the team next season.   Who replaces their speed?    What effect will it have on the team if that speed is not replaced?

Edited September 7, 2023 by wildcard

[Pickles]

It's going to be hard to quantify but clearly this team is by and large younger and more athletic than its competitors and that bodes well for it when it comes to winning and losing.

Team speed does not merely manifest itself in stolen bases, but in improved defense and base running in general.

As far as Mateo and McKenna go, if they were to be replaced, they would likely be replaced by guys who are also fast, if not as fast as they are, particularly in Mateo's case.

I wouldn't be shocked if Mateo was here next year as a 26th man.  McKenna I would think will be gone because of the outfield crunch.  However, if they end up moving Hays and/or Santander then he probably has a role on the team as a RHH OF.

So I could see both being here, and I could see both being gone.  Their relative footspeed will have little to do with that decision though.

[Can_of_corn]

8 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Interested to hear your opinion.

Secondly,  Mateo and McKenna are two of the fastest players on the team.   Many have talked about them not being on the team next season.   Who replaces their speed?    What effect will it have on the team if that speed is not replaced?

Westburg and Henderson are exactly as fast as McKenna.

I'm not sure an 80 speed guy is something that is a need.

[Sports Guy]

I think where it helps is their ability to take an extra base or 2 when maybe others can’t. Mansolino and how aggressive he is tells you how confident he is in the teams speed. He doesn’t believe the other team can make the perfect play and you know what, he’s right. That’s probably how you should coach. So many coaches are afraid to run guys into outs. I bet you the SigBot tells you that this isn’t the case and perfection rarely occurs.

We saw this for years with Tampa. Speed doesn’t have to manifest itself in SBs to be valuable.

So yea, I think it matters a lot especially for a team like the Os that generally plays a lot of close games.

[Hallas]

team speed?

 

[Pickles]

2 minutes ago, Hallas said:

team speed?

 

Knew it was coming.

[wildcard]

42 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Westburg and Henderson are exactly as fast as McKenna.

I'm not sure an 80 speed guy is something that is a need.

I agree that Westburg and Gunnar are as fast or faster than McKenna.  But right now  the O's have Westburg, Gunnar, Mateo and McKenna.  If the last two are gone that lessens the team speed probably.

Most often talked about replaces for Mateo and McKenna are Ortiz and Cowser.   Neither are as fast as the player they would replace.  I am not even sure Cowser is a good backup for CF.

Edited September 7, 2023 by wildcard

[Frobby]

I think baserunning acumen means as much or more than raw speed.  The O’s are second in MLB in percentage of extra bases taken on a single or a double, at 49% compared to league average 43%.   Per BB-ref, they are second in the majors in Baserunning Runs, at +12.   They are very smart about when to push the envelope.  

Speed matters a lot to outfield defense, yet our outfielders are not particularly speedy.  
 

 

[Jim'sKid26]

There are differing opinions on the impact of foot speed with respect to other skills. 

"Because of the short distances involved in the game, players rarely, if ever, achieve maximum speed and in actuality, it is acceleration that plays a much greater role in baseball."

https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/implications-of-speed-in-baseball/#:~:text=Additionally%2C speed can have an,fewer hits for the opposition.

Short but interesting read.

[Hallas]

8 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I agree that Westburg and Gunnar are as fast or faster than McKenna.  But right the O's have Westburg, Gunnar, Mateo and McKenna.  If the last two are gone the lessen the team speed probably.

Most offen talked about replaces for Mateo and McKenna are Ortiz and Cowser.   Either are as fast.  I am not even sure Cowser is a good backup for CF.

I don't see a burning need to send McKenna on his way.  He's cheap, he's happy being a 4th outfielder and at least this year he was pretty good in that role.  Losing Mateo would be a blow, but he makes some boneheaded plays on the basepaths too.  He's only been worth about 3 runs baserunning.  We can also offset that if we trade Santander or Hays, Hays especially.  He's having an awful running year and is worth as much negative as Mateo is positive.  If Cowser can get out of the dumps with the bat, he was a positive baserunner, which is quite a feat because he wasn't on the team that long.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Hallas

[Gunnar]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I think baserunning acumen means as much or more than raw speed.  The O’s are second in MLB in percentage of extra bases taken on a single or a double, at 49% compared to league average 43%.   Per BB-ref, they are second in the majors in Baserunning Runs, at +12.   They are very smart about when to push the envelope.  

Speed matters a lot to outfield defense, yet our outfielders are not particularly speedy.  
 

 

This might be attributed in large part to our first/third base coaching as well as team speed/acumen.

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Gunnar said:

This might be attributed in large part to our first/third base coaching as well as team speed/acumen.

I think Mansolino is an excellent 3B coach.  He likes to push it but he’s not a wild man.   

[drjohnnyfever1]

3 hours ago, Gunnar said:

This might be attributed in large part to our first/third base coaching as well as team speed/acumen.

 

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

I think Mansolino is an excellent 3B coach.  He likes to push it but he’s not a wild man.   

I was going to comment exactly these...

The base running has been excellent.  Moving from 1st to 3rd consistently on balls anywhere right of center and many times scoring from 1st on those opportunities has been exceptional.  It's an aggressiveness that seems to have been well adopted by the players.  Clearly they have the speed to do THAT and they are being pushed to do it and put the onus on the DEF to stop them.

But when I hear team speed, I often just associate it with stolen bases.  We've had a little over 100 SB's so far, 95 last year... there's clearly a desire to be fast.  Quality base running maybe puts an exclamation on that.

https://www.camdenchat.com/2023/4/4/23668961/orioles-stolen-bases-mlb-new-rules-jorge-mateo-cedric-mullins

[drjohnnyfever1]

4 hours ago, Hallas said:

team speed?

 

Lol, it wouldn't be a baseball season in Baltimore if we didn't see this.  I just posted it the other day in a Oriole History thread. hahaha  great minds.

[Roy Firestone]

I've not been a huge supporter of Mateo, but his speed made a big difference at least twice in the Angel series...stealing bases and scoring on hits that might've been harder for many other base runners...he was definitely a weapon in that series...and he also got some hits too..for a change..