The Base-Stealing Technique That Has Yankees Looking ‘Like Usain Bolt,’

The numbers jumped out at him. Aaron Judge is known far more for hitting home runs than stealing bases. But when he noticed the high stolen-base totals of several Yankees minor leaguers in 2021, it piqued his curiosity and sparked his competitive fire.

“Guys I’m faster than had more stolen bases than me,” the Yankees’ 6-foot-7, 282-pound slugger said. “I wanted to know why.”

The answer lies in a base-stealing technique that dates back more than 50 years, but only now is gaining wider acceptance in Major League Baseball. The Yankees, under director of speed development and base running Matt Talarico, are at the vanguard of the movement, and their timing could not be better. The league this season is introducing new rules, from the pitch clock to bigger bases to pickoff restrictions, in an effort to enhance base stealing and restore its prominence in the game.

The Bronx Bombers might never be known as the Bronx Burners. But their technique, used by Judge and other Yankees, in particular rookie Anthony Volpe, already has transformed the organization into a base-stealing machine in the minors. Other clubs, in baseball’s grand copycat tradition, are following suit.

“All you’ve got to do is watch Volpe and Gleyber Torres,” said one rival scout who has followed the Yankees for years in both the majors and minors, and was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly. “They look like Usain Bolt out there.”

Watch Judge, Volpe and virtually every other Yankee when they are in position to steal. They will take a short primary lead, then make a lateral, hop-like move as the pitcher begins his delivery. A “momentum lead,” the Yankees call it. Others term it a “leap/vault movement.”

Mike Roberts, a godfather of the technique, used to refer to it a “jump lead,” but now prefers “shuffle lead,” reflecting an adjustment in his teaching method in recent years. (...)

However one describes it, the base stealer’s movement is not unlike the type an infielder makes to get set before a pitch, or a tennis player makes while preparing to receive a serve. The idea is to build momentum through motion, rather than start from a standing position.

As Shatel put it, “If you’re in a Ferrari at a stop light and I’m in my Toyota, but I roll into that stop and you’re at a dead stop, I’m going to beat you off the line 100 times out of 100.”

by Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic/NYT | Read more:
Images: uncredited

Judge stealing a base in 2021…

 

… and Judge stealing in 2022, when he had a career-high 16 stolen bases