Detroit Tigers: Let’s talk about the base running in 2017

Detroit Tigers fans have seen station-to-station, mashing teams in years past. While that was partly true in 2017, the base running didn’t improve much from a statistical standpoint.

Detroit Tigers players probably should have been better on the base paths in 2017, or at the very least an improvement on 2016.

Sure, Cameron Maybin and his speed were gone, but Detroit had the likes of Mikie Mahtook and Alex Presley on hand to replace the fleet-of-foot outfielder.

Another one of Maybin’s replacements, JaCoby Jones, was also on hand to make an impact on the bases.

Despite seeing just 28 plate appearances down the stretch in 2016, Jones ranked seventh on the team in BsR with a 0.7 stat.

In theory, it should have been better overall—and it was.

But only by the slightest of margins.

The Tigers finished 2016 ranked 23^rd in the league with 58 stolen bases. Detroit also checked in at an even-less inspiring 28^th in BsR with a collective -19.2 number.

Miguel Cabrera (-10.0 BsR in 2016) and Victor Martinez (-11.4 BsR in 2016) largely weighed the team down in that metric. The veteran sluggers were the only players in the league with a BsR that finished with a double digit number in the negatives.