Dodgers News: Roberts Hopes Will Smith is the Answer to Syndergaard's Stolen Base Problem
Noah Syndergaard gets the baseball for the Dodgers today against the St. Louis Cardinals. Thankfully for Thor, the Red Birds are about middle of the pack when it comes to stealing bases. But the problem for the veteran right-hander is that players turn into Rickey Henderson when he's on the mound.
Baserunners are a perfect 9 for 9 in stolen base attempts off him this year. The secret is out... you can run on Noah Syndergaard. Dave Roberts hopes he has a little help on Sunday with the return of Will Smith behind the plate. He talked about Smitty at catcher and him being the best guy to help Syndergaard keep runners honest.
“Will’s our best thrower, so to be paired with Noah is a good thing. They’re still going to take some chances (on the bases).”
Smith has nailed only one runner in 9 chances so far this season (11%) but for his career he's caught 22% of would-be base stealers.
During spring training, the message from the Dodgers was that pitchers would care more about "their stuff" rather than sacrificing anything on pitches for the sake of mitigating the run game with slide step deliveries or variations on timing.
Now it's looking like that is backfiring greatly.
Roberts acknowledged the increase in stealing this season and admits the Dodgers need to get better at keeping teams honest.
“It’s a different game one year removed. There’s more activity on the bases across the league and so we’ve got to be proactive and move quicker as far as adjusting and value the importance in how we control the running game. It’s essentially giving guys 90 feet ... It’s hard to get 90 feet, but when you’re giving it away, they’re going to take it. We just have to be better. Can’t keep everybody off base, but when they do, it can’t be a free 90 feet.”
