(670 The Score) At 75 years young, White Sox television analyst Steve Stone has been around the game of baseball his whole life. And he has now come to a conclusion about this White Sox team.
“This is about as bad a baserunning team as I’ve ever seen,” Stone said on the Mully & Haugh Show on Thursday morning.
The White Sox have made 37 outs on the bases this season, which is the fourth-worst mark in MLB, according to Baseball Reference. They also don’t run the bases hard on a consistent basis, with a handful of players under specific instructions from organizational brass to go easy on routine plays so as to not aggravate soft-tissue injuries.
In a 6-5 loss to the Rockies on Wednesday, it was utilityman Leury Garcia who made a grave baserunning gaffe, getting picked off third base immediately after third baseman Yoan Moncada walked to load the bases with two outs in the top of the fifth. The White Sox trailed 3-2 at the time.
“They continue to take themselves out of situations that they could easily have added on or won games handily that they wind up winning in very close ballgames and having to use a part of their bullpen that they don’t want to use if it was a five- or six-run game,” Stone said. “I mean, they make really stupid baserunning mistakes on a consistent basis. If it happened to just one guy, you would say, well maybe you could somehow play around that guy. It seems to happen to most guys.
“There’s been mental mistakes to go around. Again, you’re not pointing your finger at any one player because it seems to happen to a whole lot of players. The one thing that’s really disturbing is we seem to have the sorest legs in baseball. I don’t know exactly what it is, but every team we play, they seem to be able to take aggressive turns at first base and we saw it yesterday. You would think that when you take a look at the oldest player on this team, the oldest everyday player certainly, that there would be a bunch of guys taking a look at Jose Abreu and saying, ‘You know what? That’s the way to play baseball.’ Jose yesterday on a seemingly routine base hit took an aggressive turn at first base and when (Garrett) Hampson bobbled the ball in center field, he took second base. Now granted, he was doubled off on a line drive on the next play or two, but the point is that he hustled his way into a two-base hit when it should’ve been a single. I’ve seen guys get a base hit and then just saunter to first base as if they were going to a spring picnic. This is a game that you have to let it all go each and every play, and if you don’t, you’re going to run into teams who do. And the teams who do will consistently take that extra 90 feet. We’ve talked about taking the 90 feet or giving up the 90 feet – this team seems to give up the 90 feet and not take the 90 feet near enough to be better than they should be.”
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