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Most stolen bases against a pitcher

Posted by Andy on December 24, 2007

For the 2007 season, here are the leaders among pitcher for most stolen bases allowed:

  Cnt Player             **SB** Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Chris Young          44   2007  28 SDP NL  30 30  0   0  0  9  8  .529  0 173   118  66  60  72 167   3.12  129 10  705  616 19  8   0   7   3   6   9  0  2  4  7  .192  .281  .297  .578   60 2884 1844 
    2 Tim Wakefield        41   2007  40 BOS AL  31 31  0   0  0 17 12  .586  0 189   191 104 100  64 110   4.76  100 22  800  724 47  3   1   4   2   6  14  8  0  0 10  .264  .325  .428  .753   92 2881 1858 
    3 Greg Maddux          37   2007  41 SDP NL  34 34  1   0  0 14 11  .560  0 198   221  92  91  25 104   4.14   98 14  830  776 47  8   3   6  15   8  14  2  1  0  5  .285  .309  .420  .729   98 2704 1855 
    4 A.J. Burnett         31   2007  30 TOR AL  25 25  2   0  0 10  8  .556  0 165.2 131  74  69  66 176   3.75  119 23  691  611 19  1   2  12   0   2  19  0  0  0  5  .214  .302  .362  .664   75 2649 1625 
    5 Dustin McGowan       29   2007  25 TOR AL  27 27  2   1  0 12 10  .545  0 169.2 146  80  77  61 144   4.08  109 14  705  636 27  3   3   2   0   6  13  1  0  0 13  .230  .296  .347  .643   70 2702 1659 
    6 Brandon Webb         26   2007  28 ARI NL  34 34  4   3  0 18 10  .643  0 236.1 209  91  79  72 194   3.01  156 12  975  883 42  4   6   5   9   6  20  9  1  0  3  .237  .296  .334  .630   63 3436 2228 
    7 Jose Contreras       25   2007  35 CHW AL  32 30  2   2  2 10 17  .370  0 189   232 134 117  62 113   5.57   85 21  858  763 39  5   1  15   8  10  19  6  0  0  3  .304  .364  .451  .815  110 2999 1887 
    8 Mike Mussina         24   2007  38 NYY AL  28 27  0   0  0 11 10  .524  0 152   188  90  87  35  91   5.15   87 14  656  605 49  1   2   4   6   6  18  3  0  0  1  .311  .349  .464  .813  112 2393 1575 
    9 Daniel Cabrera       24   2007  26 BAL AL  34 34  1   0  0  9 18  .333  0 204.1 207 133 126 108 166   5.55   83 25  922  781 37  2   6  15  13   5  21  4  0  2  7  .265  .363  .414  .777  103 3564 2069 
   10 Rich Hill            23   2007  27 CHC NL  32 32  0   0  0 11  8  .579  0 195   170  89  85  63 183   3.92  119 27  812  724 32  1   3  12   9   4  14  5  4  1  1  .235  .305  .394  .699   81 3073 2033 

Umm, 44 seems like an awful lot to me. If a staff of 5 starters each allowed 44 in a season, that would be 220 opposing stolen bases, and the Mets led this year with 200 SB (second place was Baltimore with 144.)

Not surprisingly, a bunch of the same names show up on the list for highest SB% allowed  in 2007 (among starters qualified for the ERA title):

  Cnt Player             **SB%** Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 A.J. Burnett        1.00   2007  30 TOR AL  25 25  2   0  0 10  8  .556  0 165.2 131  74  69  66 176   3.75  119 23  691  611 19  1   2  12   0   2  19  31  0  0  0  5  .214  .302  .362  .664   75 2649 1625 
    2 Chris Young         1.00   2007  28 SDP NL  30 30  0   0  0  9  8  .529  0 173   118  66  60  72 167   3.12  129 10  705  616 19  8   0   7   3   6   9  44  0  2  4  7  .192  .281  .297  .578   60 2884 1844 
    3 Jeff Suppan         1.00   2007  32 MIL NL  34 34  1   0  0 12 12  .500  0 206.2 243 113 106  68 114   4.62   97 18  919  815 60  3  10  11  14  11  23   7  0  0  0  7  .298  .356  .445  .801  109 3325 2071 
    4 Dustin McGowan      0.97   2007  25 TOR AL  27 27  2   1  0 12 10  .545  0 169.2 146  80  77  61 144   4.08  109 14  705  636 27  3   3   2   0   6  13  29  1  0  0 13  .230  .296  .347  .643   70 2702 1659 
    5 Greg Maddux         0.95   2007  41 SDP NL  34 34  1   0  0 14 11  .560  0 198   221  92  91  25 104   4.14   98 14  830  776 47  8   3   6  15   8  14  37  2  1  0  5  .285  .309  .420  .729   98 2704 1855 
    6 Chad Gaudin         0.92   2007  24 OAK AL  34 34  1   0  0 11 13  .458  0 199.1 205 108  98 100 154   4.42   95 21  886  769 40  8   8   8   3   6  26  12  1  0  1  3  .267  .354  .421  .775  110 3290 1984 
    7 Jason Marquis       0.91   2007  28 CHC NL  34 33  1   1  0 12  9  .571  0 191.2 190 111  98  76 109   4.60  101 22  846  743 40  4   6  13  13   1  19  20  2  0  0  3  .256  .335  .409  .744   92 3027 1870 
    8 Jake Peavy          0.91   2007  26 SDP NL  34 34  0   0  0 19  6  .760  0 223.1 169  67  63  68 240   2.54  159 13  898  812 31  7   5   6   5   7  16  21  2  1  0  4  .208  .272  .312  .584   61 3609 2349 
    9 Cole Hamels         0.88   2007  23 PHI NL  28 28  2   0  0 15  5  .750  0 183.1 163  72  69  43 177   3.39  136 25  743  687 37  1   4   3   5   5  13  14  2  2  0  5  .237  .283  .403  .686   76 2791 1911 
   10 Matt Morris         0.88   2007  32 TOT NL  32 32  3   0  0 10 11  .476  0 198.2 240 123 108  61 102   4.89   90 18  884  795 61  4   4   9  10   8  24  15  2  0  0  4  .302  .355  .457  .812  114 3037 1943

Wow, Burnett allowed 31 steals without a CS, Young allowed 44 without a CS, and Suppan allowed  7 without a CS. To a degree, the catchers might be to blame, but more than likely these pitchers have slower deliveries and/or are more "readable" by the baserunners.

As long as we're looking at it, here are the best caught stealing percentages for the year, also among starters qualified for the ERA title:

  Cnt Player             **SB%** Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Jon Garland         0.25   2007  27 CHW AL  32 32  2   1  0 10 13  .435  0 208.1 219 114  98  57  98   4.23  112 19  883  812 46  7   3   4   3   7  20   2  6  1  0  1  .270  .318  .414  .732   89 3297 2095 
    2 Bronson Arroyo      0.33   2007  30 CIN NL  34 34  1   0  0  9 15  .375  0 210.2 232 109  99  63 156   4.23  110 28  921  828 53  2   6  13  10   7  12   3  6  2  0  4  .280  .338  .450  .788  103 3432 2202 
    3 Tom Glavine         0.38   2007  41 NYM NL  34 34  1   1  0 13  8  .619  0 200.1 219 102  99  64  89   4.45   96 23  855  780 38  8   2   4   5   2  21   5  8  2  0  2  .281  .338  .438  .776  107 3338 1938 
    4 Mark Buehrle        0.40   2007  28 CHW AL  30 30  3   1  0 10  9  .526  0 201   208  86  81  45 115   3.63  131 22  835  773 44  2   5   5   7   5  20   2  3  5  0  1  .269  .312  .417  .729   87 3102 1997 
    5 Adam Wainwright     0.43   2007  25 STL NL  32 32  1   0  0 14 12  .538  0 202   212  93  83  70 136   3.70  119 13  882  789 47  4   4   9   9   5  19   6  8  1  0  6  .269  .333  .388  .721   91 3173 1971 
    6 Jeremy Guthrie      0.44   2007  28 BAL AL  32 26  0   0  3  7  5  .583  0 175.1 165  78  72  47 123   3.70  125 23  723  662 37  1   2   4   4   6  18   4  5  1  1  8  .249  .300  .412  .712   85 2681 1709 
    7 Gil Meche           0.44   2007  28 KCR AL  34 34  1   0  0  9 13  .409  0 216   218  98  88  62 156   3.67  128 22  906  829 37  4   2   3   5   7  20   4  5  2  0  3  .263  .314  .397  .711   84 3584 2287 
    8 C.C. Sabathia       0.50   2007  26 CLE AL  34 34  4   1  0 19  7  .731  0 241   238  94  86  37 209   3.21  143 20  975  918 60  1   1   8   6   6  23  10 10  0  0  1  .259  .292  .392  .684   76 3581 2377 
    9 Doug Davis          0.50   2007  31 ARI NL  33 33  0   0  0 13 12  .520  0 192.2 211 100  91  95 144   4.25  111 21  862  750 40  4   7   5  10   2  23   6  6  7  1 10  .281  .365  .429  .794  105 3356 1968 
   10 Carlos Silva        0.53   2007  28 MIN AL  33 33  2   1  0 13 14  .481  0 202   229  99  94  36  89   4.19  103 20  848  797 41  7   2   4   6   5  24   8  7  0  1  4  .287  .319  .432  .751   99 3057 1996 

What you notice is that very few stolen bases were attempted against these pitchers. Sabathia allowed the most out of this group, and that's just 10 SB. I imagine teams were inclined to run against Sabathia since it was fairly difficult to get runners into scoring postion against him by other means. But like a lot of hard throwers, C.C. has a quick delivery and is pretty hard to steal against.

By the way, 7 different pitchers allowed 5 stolen bases in a single game this year:

  Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt App,Dec    IP   H  R ER BB SO HR Pit Str GmSc IR IS BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP **SB** CS Pk BK WP   ERA
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+---------+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+----+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+------+--+--+--+--+------+
    1 Ben Sheets        2007-09-14    MIL  CIN L  5-6  GS-3  ,L   3    6  5  5  2  3  1  50  30   28       17 14  0  0   1   0  0  1   0    5    0  0  0  0  15.00 
    2 Gavin Floyd       2007-09-05    CHW @DET L  1-2  GS-6       6    6  1  1  2  6  1  90  53   60       27 24  1  0   0   1  0  0   0    5    0  0  0  0   1.50 
    3 Jake Peavy        2007-08-22    SDP @NYM W  7-5  GS-6  ,W   6    2  2  2  5 11  0 101  68   66       26 21  1  0   0   0  0  0   0    5    0  0  0  1   3.00 
    4 Dustin McGowan    2007-08-11    TOR @KCR L  1-4  GS-7  ,L   6.1  6  4  3  1  4  1 100  63   50       27 25  0  1   0   0  0  1   0    5    0  0  0  0   4.26 
    5 Chris Young       2007-06-29    SDP @LAD W  7-6  GS-6  ,W   6    7  2  2  1  9  0 113  82   58       26 25  0  0   0   0  0  0   0    5    0  0  1  0   3.00 
    6 Mike Mussina      2007-06-24    NYY @SFG L  2-7  GS-5  ,L   5    5  3  2  3  5  0 105  63   49       24 19  1  0   1   0  1  1   0    5    0  0  0  0   3.60 
    7 Joe Blanton       2007-05-27    OAK @BAL L  4-8  GS-6  ,L   6   10  8  8  1  2  3 110  68   21       30 29  1  0   0   0  0  0   0    5    0  0  0  0  12.00 

Ben Sheets did it in just 3 innings!

5 Responses to “Most stolen bases against a pitcher”

  1. mikeyjax Says:

    The most obvious one upon 'simple' inspection would be Wakefield because of the knuckle ball! How does Phil
    Neikro's #'s look over his career ?

  2. ehlomint Says:

    Can anyone tell me how to find flyball/groundball ratios for batters and pitchers and also pull/opposite field percentages? Can’t seem to find these breakdowns on baseball-reference.com and need them for LaRussa baseball game…please help!! ehlomint@neo.rr.com

  3. FCAlive Says:

    It is strange that there has been no discussion about the differences between LEFTY and RIGHTY pitchers in their propensity to allow stolen bases.

  4. David in Toledo Says:

    I was intending no disrespect by putting a thread topic in quotes.

    Of those who allowed most steals or a high percentage, three (of 16?) are lefties: Hill, Marquis, and Hamels.

    Of those whose caught stealing % was best, four (of 10) are lefties: Glavine, Buehrle, Sabathia, Davis.

    This is probably not news, but perhaps worth noting.

  5. Andy Says:

    I think it's tough to compare SB% for lefties and righties because the numbers do not reveal much about what the opposing teams think and plan. For example, Any Pettitte and Terry Mulholland are two lefties who have (had?) fantastic pickoff moves. Both had years with a lot (10+) of pickoffs and years with very low stolen-base percentage. Then, teams simply stopped running on these guys because they were too hard to read and their pickoff moves were too good. But, then the fastest runners figured out how to run on them, and I think both guys, later in their careers, have had years similar to 7 attempted steals and 7 successful steals (i.e. no caught stealings.) So that's 100% success rate against them, but at a low overall level. My point is just that there is lot more to this particular stat than the numbers.