ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Twins stole 23 bases in August, the most they have swiped in one month since 2014, and they led the American League with 10 in September entering Monday.
It’s part of a plan that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was skeptical of at first.
“Jayce [Tingler, Baldelli’s bench coach] said: ‘Let’s give everyone the green light. Every player, every at-bat,’ “ Baldelli said of a conversation in August. “I said: ‘I don’t know. I don’t know about that.’ “
But he eventually embraced the idea and informed his team later that day.
“I said I want everyone working the entire day, the entire game, to watch, learn, pick up, anticipate and steal bases, everybody here. I don’t care who you are, I want you to be aggressive,” Baldelli said. “I put it to them: ‘I want you to pick up cues. I want you prepared when you go out there and work the entire game to get that bag.’ And they have.”
They have. Austin Martin stole six bases in August (in nine attempts, a ratio Baldelli wants to see him improve upon) to lead the team, while Byron Buxton went 4-for-4. Nine players stole at least one base — including 6-foot-4 slugger Matt Wallner, who went 3-for-3 in August.
“It’s something I’ve always been bad at, so it’s a really good learning experience for me. I’m paying a lot more attention to that now,” Wallner said. “It’s something that I want to learn now, when it doesn’t matter as much, [and] get better at it. And then next year, when hopefully it matters a lot more, I want to be able to do it occasionally to maybe put us in a better position to win.”
Buxton did some running in the outfield before the Twins took batting practice Monday, and the results were good — but not good enough.