This Offense Is Unsafe at Any Speed

The Kansas City Royals are expected to pester opponents this season with a lineup that includes one player with the potential to steal 60 bases and two others with the potential to steal 30.

Cleveland Indian center fielder Kenny Lofton, perhaps the only major leaguer who could steal 100 bases in a season, has thoroughly dominated games with his blazing speed.

The Angels? Well, they won’t have opposing catchers shaking in their shin guards. They stole all of 58 bases last season--four more than Lofton--and they’ve been successful on just 12 of 28 stolen-base attempts this spring.

But even though the Angels lack a prototypic leadoff hitter and a player with the potential to steal 20 bases, they are one of the American League’s most feared teams on the basepaths.

“I played with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1990-92, a team built around speed and defense, and we finished last twice,” Angel infielder Rex Hudler said. “I’ll trade a team of roadsters for a team with firepower, aggressive athletes and polished baserunners, and that’s what we have.”

They did last year. Only one team in the major leagues, the New York Yankees, had fewer stolen bases than the Angels in 1995, but the Angels were second to Cleveland in runs with 801.

Power obviously was a factor--the Angels had five players with at least 20 home runs and three with more than 100 RBIs--but so was baserunning.

“The key is being able to go from first to third on most singles and scoring from second on most hits,” said third base coach Rick Burleson, who established an extensive baserunning program for the Angels two years ago. “These guys have become very good at that.”

There are no Kenny Loftons or Rickey Hendersons, but in Randy Velarde, Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon, J.T. Snow, Garret Anderson and Gary DiSarcina, the Angels have six starters who are above-average baserunners.

Rookie third baseman George Arias has decent speed, and reserves Damion Easley and Hudler have above-average speed. Only designated hitter Chili Davis and catcher Jorge Fabregas are considered base-cloggers.

The Angels devote time exclusively to baserunning four or five days a week during spring training, and players incorporate base-running techniques in daily pre-game workouts during the season.

Burleson tries to simulate game situations in practice and stresses “situation baserunning,” in which players work on a technique at each base--such as a hit-and-run play from first, tagging up from third--during batting practice.

“There’s no question it’s emphasized more here,” said Snow, who came up in the Yankee organization. “This is the hardest I’ve ever worked running the bases.”

Burleson was a feisty, hard-nosed shortstop for the Boston Red Sox. He seems to have molded Angel baserunners in his image.

His keys to good baserunning:

* Know exactly where outfielders are playing and the strength of their arms, get a good read of the ball off the bat and of the ball’s flight to the outfield. The more adept a player becomes at this, the easier he can tell when a ball will drop for a hit or have a chance at being caught.

Example: Arias was on first in a recent spring training game, the opposing right fielder was playing off the line, and Fabregas ripped a liner to right that curved and sank quickly toward the line.

Arias hesitated as the ball traveled over his head and only made it to second, but had he read the ball properly he would of known the right fielder had no chance to make the catch, and he would have easily made it to third.

* Pounce on mistakes, take advantage of outfielders who don’t charge balls, test outfielders with weaker arms.

Example: On a single to left field, a runner on first usually stops at second. But twice this spring, Edmonds advanced from first to third on singles to left, because the outfielder was lackadaisical in his approach to the ball.

In a game against the Yankees last season, Edmonds was on third and planned to bluff a move to the plate on a fly ball to shallow right field. But when Paul O’Neill, not expecting Edmonds to tag up, caught the ball flat-footed, Edmonds went and easily beat the throw.

* Take big turns around bases after hits. This may force an outfielder to rush a play and make a mistake. If the runner rounds the base hard, he’ll be in better position to advance if the outfielder bobbles the ball.

* Touch the inside corner of the bag, not the top of it. This helps the runner make a quicker turn toward the next base.

* Get good secondary leads, which are leads runners take as the pitcher delivers to the plate. These help runners get better jumps and can be the difference between scoring and getting thrown out at the plate.

* Advance on balls in the dirt. This involves reading the pitch, knowing it’s heading for the dirt, getting the maximum secondary lead and going, either as the ball hits the dirt or on the ensuing bobble.

“Carl Yastrzemski was the best at seeing the ball in the dirt and going and not even drawing a throw--it’s an art in itself,” Burleson said. “He told me years ago you don’t have to be fast to run the bases well.”

You do have to be smart, though.

“You’re going to get burned occasionally, but you try not to make the first or third out of an inning at third base or the first out at home,” Burleson said. “And with two outs, you better believe we’re scoring from second on a hit unless it’s a one-hop rocket to left field in Fenway Park and Jorge [Fabregas] is the runner.

“Other than that, go for it.”

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No Steal

The Angels’ 58 stolen bases in 1995 were the second-lowest total in the major leagues, but it didn’t prevent the team from posting an 78-67 record.

Over the course of the club’s history, there has been little correlation between base stealing and winning; in their five best and worst seasons for stealing bases, the Angels have fared generally poorly:

FIVE FASTEST

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Year SB Record Stndg 1975 220 72-89 6th 1993 169 71-91 5th 1992 160 72-90 5th 1977 159 74-88 5th 1976 126 76-86 4th

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FIVE SLOWEST

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Year SB Record Stndg 1961 37 70-91 8th 1967 40 84-77 5th 1983 41 70-92 5th 1963 43 70-91 9th 1981 44 51-59 5th

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