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Number one's priority Scoring, not stealing, is what makes a great leadoff hitterPosted: Friday April 19, 2002 4:29 PM
What makes a great leadoff hitter? Look no further than what Fernando Vina of the Cardinals did to Diamondbacks ace Curt Schilling on Wednesday. The scrappy second baseman stroked the first pitch of the game for a double, then Placido Polanco's sacrifice bunt moved him to third, where he was stranded. In the third he struck out. In the fifth he led off with a single, stole second and scored on Jim Edmonds' grand slam. Vina singled again in the sixth. The Cardinals table-setter went 3 for 4 with a run scored and a stolen base against Schilling. Later in the game, after Schilling had been sent to the showers, Vina walked and scored another run. St. Louis beat the Diamondbacks 8-4 and, while Edmonds and St. Louis starter Matt Morris grabbed the headlines, those in the know slid some credit Vina's way. "He and Juan Pierre [of the Rockies] are, to my mind, as good as they come at the top of the order in this league," Schilling said. Arizona manager Bob Brenly added, "He's been a thorn in our side for a long time." "He's not just the best leadoff hitter in the National League," says one scout. "He might be the most underrated player in the league." Vina can run -- he stole 17 bases last year -- but he's not the second coming of Rickey Henderson. He's never swiped more than 22 in a season, and he's never finished among the top 10 in the league in steals. But he is good at working pitchers and finding a way on base (Vina has twice led the league in hit by pitches), skills that are often overlooked when teams search for leadoff hitters. It's easy to be dazzled by speed, but the top hitter's job should be to score runs. Roger Cedeno is a perfect example. He stole 55 bases for the Tigers last year, second-most in the league. But thanks to a middling .337 on-base percentage, he scored just 79 runs. (By way of comparion, in 2001 Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners stole 56 bases, but also posted a .381 on-base percentage and scored 127 runs.) A look at Cedeno's numbers makes it refreshing to see the A's using Jeremy Giambi atop their order. The outfielder's stat line (zero career stolen bases) and his lumbering 6-foot, 200-pound frame don't exactly make for a typical speedster leadoff hitter. But the lead-footed Giambi is actually more proficient than most of his top-of-the-order peers at getting on base. His .433 on-base percentage through Thursday was 10th-best overall in the American League and second only to Chicago's Kenny Lofton (.485) among leadoff hitters. No surprise that Lofton leads the league with 22 runs and that Giambi's 11 lead his team. Take a look at the AL teams that have scored the most runs from the leadoff spot each of the past 10 seasons. Sure, it would be nice to have a leadoff hitter who stole successfully every time he got on base. But clearly, when it comes to creating scoring opportunities, the important thing is reaching base, not swiping bags once you do.
Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for the magazine. Touching Base appears every week on CNNSI.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
