PORT CHARLOTTE — They don’t have the track stars like Carl Crawford and BJ Upton, who blazed a blurred trail at the start of the era of success in the late 2000s.
But this Tampa Bay team also looks to be built for speed — with a group of fast runners who have aggressive mindsets, an almost-always green light and the benefit of recent rule changes that enable larceny.
In other words, get ready for the runnin’ Rays.
“We’re going to do it because I think that our speed is going to allow us to do it,” manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday. “These new rules are there to promote base running, so we’re going to support it.”
The Rays ran quite a bit last year as pitch clocks, limits on pickoff throws and other changes were implemented, stealing 160 bases — fourth most in the majors, third most in franchise history — and ranking near the leaders in taking extra bases on singles and doubles.
That may have just been a warmup act.
“It’s fair to say we’re going to run more, more than we did last year,” bench coach Rodney Linares said. “We have the personnel to do it. And I think that after last year, watching how the rules work, I’m pretty sure we’re going to be even more aggressive.”
So the emphasis in camp has been on being ready to run, and, to be looking, and wanting, to do so.
Though not with reckless abandon.
“They want everybody to steal more bases,” said rightfielder Josh Lowe, who swiped a team-leading 32 (and was only caught three times). “They want them to run at the right time. We have the guys in here that are smart enough and have the repetitions under their belt to know when’s the right time to go and when, when it’s not. It all depends on the situation, too.”
For example, not when one of their better hitters is at the plate and doing so could impact or inhibit his at-bat.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that can steal a lot of bases,” second baseman Brandon Lowe said. “And as long as they’re smart about it and don’t do dumb things on the base paths, I’m all for it.”
Or, as Cash said: “If our fast guys be fast and our slow guys be smart, we’re good.”
The Rays did a pretty good job of it last year, with a 79.6 stolen base success rate that was second best in their 26-season history. But reflective of the impact of the new rules and a shift back toward athleticism, they ranked only 20th in the majors.
For context, Cash said before last season 80% “was almost, in my opinion, an unrealistic percentage. That’s what everybody wanted.” Now Cash is curious to see where it goes, if the rate keeps rising across the majors, or pif layers get greedy and start getting caught more.
He does know the Rays will be on the run.
Returnees Josh Lowe, Randy Arozarena and the rehabbing Taylor Walls all stole more than 20 bases last season, and Jose Siri, their fastest player, should be able to well surpass his total of 12, having been limited after an April hamstring strain. (Wander Franco, whose status is uncertain due to legal issues in the Dominican Republic, stole 30; Luke Raley, who was traded, swiped 14.)
The Rays added Jonny DeLuca and Amed Rosario, who ranked 18th and 28th last season in the sprint speed metric, and Jose Caballero, who stole 26 bases in Seattle.
“We came out of spring training last year, I thought we had as good a team speed as we’ve ever had since I’ve been here [starting in 2015], kind of like the Upton-Crawford days; they were burners,” Cash said. “I feel like that again.”
In addition to stealing more bases, the Rays will use that speed to take more extra bases in going from first to third and second to home.
The emphasis in all cases will be on good decision making. Linares, citing the advice of his father, 50-year-plus Astros adviser Julio Linares, said they want to be “aggressive smart, not aggressive stupid, where you just run into outs.”
Players have been encouraged to push their limits during the spring in an effort to know them in the season. In addition to the usual prep work on pitchers’ pickoff moves and catchers’ throwing times, Linares said the Rays’ staff will do more video scouting of outfielders’ throwing.
“It’s our job to make sure we put them in a good position to run,” said Michael Johns, who also took over as first base/baserunning coach after his promotion from Triple-A manager. “That means making sure we’re giving them really good information and just understanding the situation of the game and what it calls for.
“But we’re going to be aggressive. That’s something that a lot of smart people have told us, and it’s been proven over the course of 162 games that being aggressive pays off. So with this type of group, this type of speed, we should be really aggressive.”
And they should benefit from it.
“There’s some guys here that can impact the game on the bases,” Josh Lowe said. “That’s something that we have to take advantage of. It’s something that can separate us from other teams.”
