Reese Kaplan -- Spring Training Is Also About Small Ball

On Monday one of the stories coming out of Port St. Lucie was Luis Rojas’ announcement that he was working on bunting in anticipation of the pitchers once again needing to take their turn at bat.  That is wise thinking even if there is a last-minute vote to approve another experiment with the DH.  Right now no one knows for sure if that is even possible, so it’s critically important that pitchers are ready to face their opposition when they are on the mound.

Going way back in the Mets history there were some fine bunters, but perhaps none better than shortstop Frank Taveras.  He was obtained by the Mets when they traded their own shortstop Tim Foli and minor leaguer Greg Field.  Known primarily for his baserunning speed, he earned the nickname “The Pittsburgh Stealer” after he lead the National League with 70 stolen bases in 1977.  

When he came to the Mets there was some consternation among the fans who had grown fond of Tim Foli.  A slick fielder, Foli was reminding people of Bud Harrelson as someone who earned his keep primarily with his glove rather than his bat.  He was a slightly better hitter than Harrelson but not in the same league as a baserunner.  No one knew how he’d develop as a full time major leaguer, so seeing him depart for the Pirates left a bit of an empty space in the hearts of Mets fans.

Of course, the arrival of Frank Taveras quickly pushed those feelings out of the way.  Taveras never approached the 70 stolen base mark again, but in his first two full seasons with the Mets he managed to accrue 42 and 32 stolen bases respectively.  As a hitter, he tallied a .263 AVG which was actually better than he did prior to and after his tenure with the Mets.  

However, I come back to the bunting that always stuck vividly in my mind.  Taveras was a right handed hitter, so you would think most of his bunts would have gone towards the third base side.  Instead he was a push bunter, almost like a left handed batter doing a drag bunt, forcing the first baseman to come off the bag to make a play and the opposition hoping their pitcher was fast enough to beat the former NL stolen base champion down the first base line.  He seemingly did this trick at will and was very rarely unsuccessful when he tried.

Nowadays, the bunt is a little-used device in the major leagues.  Yes, the pitchers sacrifice to move the runner along, but other than that rendition you almost never see anyone attempt to bunt for a base hit.  It’s part of the whole small ball game that has given way to launch angles and exit velocity which as caused a great many non-sluggers to aim for the long ball, only resulting in a spike in their own strikeout rates.  

This coming season might also result in a more aggressive take on base stealing than has been shown in the recent past.  Yes, you had some attempts from the first few seasons of Amed Rosario and later Andres Gimenez, but for the most part the Mets operated as a station-to-station team, relying on the long ball to score runs.  Now with Francisco Lindor a part of the daily lineup, he will make up for the former shortstops he replaces when it comes to baserunning.  The rest of the lineup is still fairly slow until they settle the centerfield question (which is inextricably tied to an 11th hour return of the DH).  

During Spring Training keep your eyes peeled to watch the running of Mallex Smith who has little chance to start the club in Queens, but he is a true speed burner.  He put together back-to-back seasons of 40 and 46 stolen bases.  In the minors had seasons of 64, 88 and 57 stolen bases, so that weapon is very real.  The problem is his bat is not.  He hit .294 in the minors but only .255 thus far in the majors.  At age 27 he’s pretty much done what he’s capable of doing with no dramatic surges in performance expected, but he’s still fun to watch.  

Who knows, after addressing the bunting, perhaps Luis Rojas will address defensive alignments, rotation plays and other aspects of the small ball game that the Mets failed to embrace.  Not every swing of the bat will result in a ball going over the wall, so it’s good if they actually prepare for other ways to score.