Atlanta Braves Minor League Teams Running Wild
Atlanta Braves minor league teams seem to be stealing bases at an incredible pace, but is it truly that much more than previous?
The Atlanta Braves have had a reputation at the major league level as a team that is fairly average in stealing bases. In fact, the Atlanta Braves have been 16th (2016), 21st (2015), and 16th (2014) in the last three seasons, putting them just below average in the last three years overall. The minor league teams have seemingly followed suit during that time.
While the 2017 Atlanta Braves major league club is in line with its previous performance (currently 17th), the minor league clubs are stealing at a much higher rate. Let’s take a look…
Gwinnett Braves
The Atlanta Braves AAA affiliate stole a total of 94 bases in 2016, which was the second highest total in the Braves minor league system. They did have a 73% success rate, which is very good for a team rate.
The 2017 Gwinnett Braves have played 14 games through Thursday. The team has stolen 21 bases, with just 4 times being caught, for an 84% success rate.
How does this compare to the 2016 team? After 14 games in 2016, Gwinnett had 14 stolen bases, which means 2017 has seen a 50% increase in stolen bases thus far.
Mississippi Braves
Mississippi stole 76 bases in 2016 at a 64% rate. Those numbers were both the lowest in the entire system.
While the 2017 version is still putting up the lowest steal numbers in the system, they have 8 stolen bases in 13 games (at a 62% success rate). At the same point in 2016, the M-Braves had stolen just 3 bases, an increase of 167%.
Florida Fire Frogs
While the Atlanta Braves high-A affiliate has changed from the Carolina Mudcats to the Florida Fire Frogs, the stats are still telling at that level.
In 2016, Carolina stole 85 bases at a 68% clip. In 2017, Florida has stolen 15 over their first 15 games (at a 60% clip, however). At the same point in 2016, the Mudcats had stolen 10 bases, an increase of 50% from 2016 to 2017.
Rome Braves
By far, the team making headlines in 2017 for their team speed is the Rome Braves squad. Of course, the 2016 team had plenty of speed with guys like Ronald Acuna, Ray-Patrick Didder, Anfernee Seymour, and Justin Ellison in the every day lineup.
In 2016, the Rome team did pace the Atlanta Braves minor league system by nearly 30 steals, stealing 122 bases at a 65% clip.
The 2017 team has already stolen 28 bases over 15 games at an 85% success rate. After 15 games, the 2016 team had stolen 10 bases. That is an astounding 180% increase year-to-year!
Overall
So far in 2017, the four full season affiliates have stolen 72 bases at a 75% success rate. In 2016, there were 37 bases stolen in that same time, an increase of 95% over 2016 as a whole system.
It’s early, but this is definitely more than just an early season blip to have this type of rate. The current stolen bases in the system are nearly as many as the Mississippi team stole in all of 2016, and we’re only 2 weeks into the season!!
With the emphasis on pitching in the system, speed will be required for elite defense behind that pitching, but this is a whole additional level of production on the bases that will be interesting to track if it will continue to the big league level.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
A few videos of that big-time speed: