Heads22 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 https://blogs.fangraphs.com/byron-buxton-tim-anderson-and-the-judicious-application-of-speed/ Quote Luckily, Statcast also measures “bolts,” or runs where a player’s top speed exceeds 30 feet per second. As you might imagine, faster players eclipse that threshold more often. Witt, for example, has topped 30 ft/sec on 55% of his competitive runs. Trevor Story, who is slower but still fast (average sprint speed of 28.4 ft/sec), has topped the 30 ft/sec threshold on 3.2% of his sprints. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is roughly halfway between Witt and Story in average sprint speed, and he’s also between them in bolt rate; 17.1% of his competitive runs have been bolts. Quote The best example of this phenomenon, though, is Tim Anderson. Anderson isn’t especially fast. He’s never averaged 29 ft/sec over a full season, and his sprint speed mark has been lower the past two years: 28 ft/sec in 2021, 28.1 so far this year. But take a look at Anderson and the other players with the same average top speed: Sprint Speed and Bolts, Tim Anderson and Comps Player Sprint Speed Bolt Rate Steven Kwan 28.2 6.5% Shohei Ohtani 28.2 3.6% Alcides Escobar 28.2 2.3% Tommy Pham 28.2 1.0% Harold Ramírez 28.2 0.9% Christian Arroyo 28.2 0.0% Ernie Clement 28.2 0.0% Willi Castro 28.2 0.0% Tim Anderson 28.1 19.7% Austin Slater 28.1 7.3% Nick Gordon 28.1 1.5% Luis Rengifo 28.1 1.3% TJ Friedl 28.1 0.0% Luis González 28.1 0.0% Eric Haase 28.1 0.0% Avisaíl García 28.1 0.0% Dylan Carlson 28.1 0.0% Cody Bellinger 28.1 0.0% Matt Chapman 28.1 0.0% Tyler Naquin 28.1 0.0% He’s just faster, no matter what sprint speed tells you. In fact, if you’re thinking about pure speed, bolt rate might be more useful. It suffers from an arbitrary threshold; if you can’t post a 30 ft/sec time, you’ll show up with a 0 bolt rate whether you’re a Molina brother or a garden variety slow boy. But how frequently you can turn in a fast run is a great indication of how fast you are, more so than how often you put in maximum effort. There's more in the blog about how Buxton is slowing down as well. 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiddleCoastBias Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Heads22 said: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/byron-buxton-tim-anderson-and-the-judicious-application-of-speed/ There's more in the blog about how Buxton is slowing down as well. First thing I thought of when seeing this was "teach your kids to be multi sport athletes as those skills will transfer". I feel like this is where his basketball background/training comes in with his "explosiveness", to steal a word from basketball folk. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MackowiakYakYak Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 That’s a smart way to play the game. It’s much more important to have him healthy long term and it’s not as if we notice him giving away bases or outs because he “isn’t trying.” Keep the legs healthy and keep him in the lineup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chw42 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 (edited) I always thought it was weird Tim had 70th-80th percentile sprint speed when he looks like the fastest guy on the team when he really needs it. It's all starting to make a lot more sense now. Robert is probably also being held back a bit by not busting it all the time. His sprint speed is currently around 67th percentile but his true top speed is probably still in the top 80th percentile. Edited July 18, 2022 by chw42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harkness99 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 Tim has never really ran hard... he hits into a lot of double plays and gets thrown out on grounders I think real-speed guys would never get thrown out on. However, in most cases I'd rather he not push his legs. My problems with Tim are elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CentralChamps21 Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 25 minutes ago, harkness99 said: Tim has never really ran hard... he hits into a lot of double plays and gets thrown out on grounders I think real-speed guys would never get thrown out on. However, in most cases I'd rather he not push his legs. My problems with Tim are elsewhere. It appears to me that when TA hits a grounder, he judges the probability that running full gas will make a difference and runs as such. I'm fine with that. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T R U Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 1 hour ago, harkness99 said: Tim has never really ran hard... he hits into a lot of double plays and gets thrown out on grounders I think real-speed guys would never get thrown out on. However, in most cases I'd rather he not push his legs. My problems with Tim are elsewhere. Yeah, his third leg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 He's had a lot of hammy and groin issues. I don't think he neccessarily busts it a full 90 feet, but picks it up at the end if he needs it. Would love to see him with no leg issues fully busting it. I doubt he still would be 80 percentile. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.