Curtis Granderson Base Stealing

Newly acquired center fielder Curtis Granderson brings a fresh, youthful look to the Yankees. He has good power and speed. His speed, though, doesn’t translate into stolen bases. He stole a career high 26 bases in 2007 and stole 20 bases in 2009. With his speed, I’m wondering why? 

It’s not the fact that he only stole 20 bases in 2009 that concerns me. It’s the fact that he only attempted to steal a base only 26 times. A guy with that speed should attempt to steal at least 50 bases a year. He didn’t have a great OBP in 2009 (.327), which adds to the reason why he didn’t attempt more steals, but look at 2007 and 2008. He had good OBPs (.365 in 2008 and .361 in 2007) and attempted 27 steals in 2007 (caught 1 time) and in 2008 he attempted a mere 16 steals (caught 4 times).

Yes, there’s more to stealing bases than just pure speed but Granderson has the pure speed. With such great speed he might as well gamble. He was only caught six times in 26 attempts last season. He’s been in the bigs for four full seasons, he should have learned how to read pitchers and get better jumps by now. If he hasn’t then shame on the Tigers coaching staff.

They say you don’t have to be fast to be a good base stealer, but if you are fast you can be a great base stealer. It doesn’t make sense that he only attempted 26 steals last year. Even if he is awful at reading pitchers and doesn’t get great jump, his speed alone should give him reason to attempt more stolen bases. He must be doing something right, though, if he converted 20 of 26 attempts in 2009 and was thrown out just one time in 2007. If he was forbidden to steal a base unless directly told to by the coaching staff then I understand. If he had the green light to take it upon himself to steal a bag then I question why he didn’t make more attempts. Maybe it’s because he was too busy hitting home runs.

Alfonso Soriano never attempted less than 40 stolen bases from 2001-2003 when he was with the Yankees. If Girardi gives Granderson the green light, I’d like for him to attempt over 50 in the season. He has the ability to convert around 40 of them because of his speed alone. 

Can Granderson be a 30-30 player with the Yankees? As a leadoff hitter, usually the 30 home runs are what keeps a player from being a 30-30 guy. In Granderson’s case it’s the stolen bases. Granderson has to get that OBP up to above .360 again and he needs to burn up the base paths. Don’t get caught too many times, Teixeira and A-Rod are due up.