CINCINNATI — A problem for the Rangers last year has already reared its head again in the early stages of the 2025 season. They have not been good at theft prevention.
Opponents began Tuesday 10 for 10 in stolen base attempts. They were the only team to allow double figures in stolen bases allowed without registering a caught stealing.
A year ago, the Rangers ranked last in the majors in caught stealing percentage at 13%.
Just don’t blame catchers Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka. At least not according to manager Bruce Bochy, who said several pitchers have been slow to home plate and on at least one tag attempt that should have been an out, infielder Jonathan Ornelas went to reach for the ball, which forced him to then bring it back to tag the runner. It forced him to be late with the tag.
“We’re on it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ve talked about it. We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to get these catchers a chance.”
The biggest key to theft prevention falls on the pitchers. Rangers pitchers have been slow to home plate. It was a particularly noticeable problem this spring for starters Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, the latter of which had times to home plate as high as 1.8 seconds. The working theory is that to have a chance to catch the runner, the time must be no higher than 1.4 seconds. The Rangers have worked with Rocker to better use a slide step move to cut down time. Bochy estimates that a slide step delivery can cut up to 3/10ths of a second off the delivery time.
“Jack made progress in his [last spring training start], I thought,” Bochy said. “He was quick, but then he got back to being slow. But it was also his first start of the season. He had a lot going on. But I know he can do it. He’s shown he can do it and hasn’t lost any stuff when he does it. That’s the thing you always get concerned about is diminishing returns, where you are making mistakes or losing your stuff because of it.”
Through the first five games, reliever Chris Martin, Jacob deGrom and Leiter had each allowed two steals. Relievers Shawn Armstrong, Marc Church, Luke Jackson and Rocker had each allowed one.
Twitter: @Evan_P_Grant
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