Major League Baseball wants players to run more, and just about every rule implemented this winter should incentivize them to do so: bigger bases, fewer pickoff attempts, and a pitch clock. It’s a speedster’s dream and should make it far easier to swipe bases. Data from this spring bears that out. Teams are attempting .40 more stolen bases per game, and their success rate has jumped from 73% to 81%.
It should be a welcome change for this Orioles team, which features the American League’s top two base stealers from a season ago and a reason to believe that the supporting cast could be more of a threat on the bases than last summer.