By Thom Henninger
It’s when Baltimore’s Brian Roberts is perched at second base that pitchers should pay the most attention to him. He has stolen 20 bases this season, and 11 of them have been steals of third.
Roberts and Tampa Bay’s B.J. Upton share the major league lead with 11 steals of third in 2009, though Roberts is 11-for-11 while Upton has been caught once.
It’s Roberts who is the master of stealing third. Since the start of the 2005 season, he has swiped third base 60 times, the most in the majors.
Steals of Third Base, 2005-09
| Player | Steals |
| Brian Roberts | 60 |
| Juan Pierre | 52 |
| Jose Reyes | 50 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 39 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 36 |
The Orioles second baseman, who has been caught only five times in 65 attempts, has the highest success rate among all players who have at least 25 steals of third over this span. Only the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins can match his steal percentage.
Highest Steal Percentage of Third Base, 2005-09
(min 25 steals of third)
| Player | SB | Att | Pct |
| Brian Roberts | 60 | 65 | 92.3 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 36 | 39 | 92.3 |
| Carlos Beltran | 35 | 38 | 92.1 |
| Juan Pierre | 52 | 57 | 91.2 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 39 | 43 | 90.7 |
All of these guys are adept at moving within 90 feet of home plate on their own, though Roberts is the best. If he reaches second base, he’s a good bet to take third.
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Very cool stuff. As an O’s fan/blogger, I can’t believe I never looked at that before. Roberts steals more on technique than speed sometimes, so it’s not surprising that he might be especially effective from second. Nice to see the O’s getting some positive press here today (I’m new to this blog by the way – glad I checked it out).
We’re glad you did. I see Roberts stole second tonight, nearly closing the gap between his steals of second and third! . . . It would be interesting to know how many times in any given season Roberts has been stationed at second base with third base open and the situation favorable to stealing third.
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