Rangers, Chris Woodward plan to ‘cause a little chaos’ on the basepaths this season - The Dallas Morning News

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SURPRISE, Ariz. — As spring training winds down, the Rangers would like to reinforce to opponents: They will run.

Also, they are good at it.

On Thursday night, facing an opponent they will see in the season’s second week and against an old friend they will likely face, the Rangers stole eight bases against San Diego. They haven’t done that in a regular-season game since they ran the bases like they were high on April 20, 2010 against Boston. Which is also very possibly the date the claw and antlers were born.

On Friday, they were to face a Kansas City team against whom they will open the season in less than a week. And Saturday its intra-division rival Oakland. More opportunities to plant seeds.

“Listen, I just want to take advantage of everything we can take advantage of,” manager Chris Woodward said. “I want to be known as a team that applies a ton of pressure on the opponent. So if that means we’re a running team, then, yeah, we’re a running team. If they stop us, they will stop us. But they are going to have to give up something to stop us.

“And if they aren’t going to stop us, then we are going to take advantage, I don’t care if they know that. Actually, I want them to know that because that applies pressure before the game ever starts.”

Here’s the thing: The league already knows. Over Woodward’s two seasons managing the Rangers, the club leads the majors in stolen bases (180) and is fourth in stolen base success rate (78%). They are seventh in bases taken on wild pitches, fly balls and other events. They are aggressive on the bases.

They are good at taking the bases; they just aren’t good at getting on the bases.

They are 26th in on-base percentage (.310) in the past two seasons and 29th in what baseball-reference.com refers to as “stolen base opportunities,” defined as times having a runner on base with the base ahead unoccupied. On average the Rangers average more than one fewer opportunity per game than the other leaders.

Which leads to this existential question: Do they run because they can or because they must?

“If we’re banging the ball around the ballpark, we’re going to be a lot more calculated; that’s easy,” Woodward said. “But it’s not that we’re running because it’s the only chance we have. For a lot of teams, it would be the exact opposite. You wouldn’t want to make any outs on the bases if you don’t have as many runners on. But I’m of the mindset that if you’ve done the homework and you know what to look for, you go ahead and take it. We’re not waiting around.”

The Rangers, however, go into 2021 with less running credibility than they have for more than a decade. In trading Elvis Andrus to Oakland, the Rangers sent away their all-time leader in stolen bases. Though Andrus didn’t run much in last year’s 60-game season, he has stolen at least 20 bases in every season he’s played at least 100 games.

The Rangers current leader in stolen bases: Rougned Odor. He has a career success rate of 55.9%. He is not the guy you want running freely.

The Rangers do have some young threats in Leody Taveras, who was successful on all eight attempts in his rookie season, Eli White and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Woodward wants to remind you: They will run.

“We’re going to cause a little chaos,” he said.

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The Link Lonk


March 27, 2021 at 09:23AM
https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2021/03/27/rangers-chris-woodward-plan-to-cause-a-little-chaos-on-the-basepaths-this-season/

Rangers, Chris Woodward plan to ‘cause a little chaos’ on the basepaths this season - The Dallas Morning News

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