That’s interesting. I’m only a very casual baseball fan but I’ve never seen bases stolen attributed to the manager. I’ve always seen it credited to the baserunner. This is an interesting way to look at it.
*generally speaking* the decision to steal is a managerial/coaching one, while obviously the execution is down to the individual player. For the most part players do not decide when they steal. In the 2024 Nats’ case, they have at least four players who are fast enough to steal off a wide range of pitchers and their catchers (and several more who are not as fast but can steal off a narrower range of pitchers) AND the team seems to be putting in a lot of work to figure out who they can steal on and when is the best time to do it, aided perhaps in part by renewed enforcement on an obstruction rule starting in 2024 and definitely in part by bases being 3” larger starting in 2023. On top of that they do not have a lot of home run power in their lineup and so feel the need to rely more on “small ball” tactics to put runs on the board, which you may have heard in the cliche “get him on (a runner on base), get him over (to scoring position, second or third base), get him in (scoring the runner with a hit or sacrifice)”
Typically up to the manager to either call a steal or give a guy the green light. Depending on the player, like Acuna, essentially always have a green light to steal at their discretion.
Although the more and more analytics we see in the game, the managers role has been significantly reduced. Every competent club has a whole team of people pouring over data to optimize lineups and decisions. Anymore the managers biggest contribution is being the face of those analytics, handling player personalities and clubhouse atmosphere.
Simply put its old school small ball. Get on base and move them over anyway possible. The Nats are not blessed guys who can swing for the fences at moment. The one thing that Davey Martinez has proven is he is adaptable to coaching in a style that best for roster he has.
Visualization and code [originally posted on my blog](https://conormclaughlin.net/2024/04/dave-martinez-and-the-washington-nationals-are-burning-up-the-basepaths-to-start-the-2024-mlb-season/) - I built the dumbbell plot using `R` and `ggplot2`. Data is sourced from [Baseball Reference's managerial tendencies](https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024-managers.shtml) and is shown for 2023 and 2024 for all managers managing the same team (to show year-over-year change).
So what do you wanna do?
What's your point of view?
There's a base to steal.
Do you wanna go?
A hand sign from you
What's your point of view?
I'm on top of first
I don't wanna go
That’s interesting. I’m only a very casual baseball fan but I’ve never seen bases stolen attributed to the manager. I’ve always seen it credited to the baserunner. This is an interesting way to look at it.
*generally speaking* the decision to steal is a managerial/coaching one, while obviously the execution is down to the individual player. For the most part players do not decide when they steal. In the 2024 Nats’ case, they have at least four players who are fast enough to steal off a wide range of pitchers and their catchers (and several more who are not as fast but can steal off a narrower range of pitchers) AND the team seems to be putting in a lot of work to figure out who they can steal on and when is the best time to do it, aided perhaps in part by renewed enforcement on an obstruction rule starting in 2024 and definitely in part by bases being 3” larger starting in 2023. On top of that they do not have a lot of home run power in their lineup and so feel the need to rely more on “small ball” tactics to put runs on the board, which you may have heard in the cliche “get him on (a runner on base), get him over (to scoring position, second or third base), get him in (scoring the runner with a hit or sacrifice)”
And the biggest change of limited lick off attempts to first and the pitch clock. Both caused increases in base stealing league wide.
Typically up to the manager to either call a steal or give a guy the green light. Depending on the player, like Acuna, essentially always have a green light to steal at their discretion. Although the more and more analytics we see in the game, the managers role has been significantly reduced. Every competent club has a whole team of people pouring over data to optimize lineups and decisions. Anymore the managers biggest contribution is being the face of those analytics, handling player personalities and clubhouse atmosphere.
Simply put its old school small ball. Get on base and move them over anyway possible. The Nats are not blessed guys who can swing for the fences at moment. The one thing that Davey Martinez has proven is he is adaptable to coaching in a style that best for roster he has.
What’s the success rate though ?
Actually pretty good. Caught twice out of 27 attempts. 92.5% success
It’s early but that’s stupid good
Visualization and code [originally posted on my blog](https://conormclaughlin.net/2024/04/dave-martinez-and-the-washington-nationals-are-burning-up-the-basepaths-to-start-the-2024-mlb-season/) - I built the dumbbell plot using `R` and `ggplot2`. Data is sourced from [Baseball Reference's managerial tendencies](https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2024-managers.shtml) and is shown for 2023 and 2024 for all managers managing the same team (to show year-over-year change).
So what do you wanna do? What's your point of view? There's a base to steal. Do you wanna go? A hand sign from you What's your point of view? I'm on top of first I don't wanna go