[RchW]

Originally Posted by bigyunit

I just finished the 2015 season with the Mariners, having played every game.

My team finished dead last in steals by a mile, but not because I was never trying to steal.

For most of the season I had James Jones (17/18/18 in speed categories by OSA, 17/17/17 by my scout) and Mookie Betts (15/17/12, 15/17/14) at the top of the order. Almost every single time they were on 1st base I would attempt to steal 2nd.

Almost every single time I would get a message that they weren't able to get a good jump. By the end of the season, Jones was able to steal 21 bases in 30 attempts, while Betts stole 15 in 26 attempts.

I ran with almost nobody else, given how hard it was for these two guys to steal and how often they got thrown out (they were the two fastest guys on my team). This was especially frustrating because I rarely even ran unless the opposing catcher had an arm of 11 or below.

Meanwhile, my catcher is Mike Zunino. He's 15 arm by my scout (14 by OSA) and 17 catcher ability. In 2015, he threw out just 22.5% of runners, despite often being run on by guys with speed and stealing ability of 12 or below.

In 2016 this seems to be getting worse. Jones has been thrown out 5 times in 6 attempts (every other time he doesn't run, despite sporting a .364 OBP through 40 games) and Zunino has thrown out just 11.8% of baserunners. He has also NEVER, in two seasons, managed to throw somebody out stealing third.

Am I missing something here? Why can every other team steal so many bases?

Run and hit; hit and run. The straight steal is passé.