Brewers continue to educate Jonathan Villar on base stealing
Cincinnati - The education of Jonathan Villar, base stealer, continues.
Brewers continue to educate Jonathan Villar on base stealing Cincinnati - The education of Jonathan Villar, base stealer, continues. Check out this story on jsonline.com: http://on.jsonl.in/2a0FXA0
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 2:51 p.m. CT July 16, 2016
Cincinnati – The education of Jonathan Villar, base stealer, continues.
The Brewers' shortstop stole his major-league leading 32nd base Friday night in the fifth inning of the series opener against Cincinnati but was thrown out trying to swipe third base for the third out with Scooter Gennett at the plate.
When Gennett batted to lead off the sixth, he smacked a home run.
"That was a mistake, for sure," manager Craig Counsell said of Villar's dash for third base with two down. "Where we're trying to get to with Johnny is how to use his competitiveness (smartly).
"Base stealers are risk takers. You have to be a risk taker to be a base stealer. But how do we become more efficient at it?"
Villar entered play Saturday with 32 steals in 43 attempts, a success rate of 74.4%. That is considered low for an elite base stealer, so Counsell said there is definite room for improvement.
"You want to get to 80% for sure, and he's capable of it," Counsell said. "We actually looked at a bunch of base stealers and how they made progress in the big leagues. You look at Starling Marte, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Altuve, Billy Hamilton and just their improved efficiency as base stealers. It improves as they are in the league.
"What Jonny is working on is to understand game situations and batter/pitcher matchups, scores, number of outs. To push the envelope but still pick the right spots to run in."
Earlier in the season, Villar ran into many careless outs at third base, and Counsell and his coaches worked with him to do better. The mistakes slowed down for a bit but Counsell said it has not gotten to the point where he feels it necessary to put a "stop sign" out for Villar when he is on base.
"There are spots that we can stop him," Counsell said. "I believe the best way is to teach Jonny and for him to understand. If you want to build the best player, for him to learn when the best spots are through teaching him. Just that. You say it.
'We've got to be responsible for our mistakes and accountable for our mistakes, and move forward from them.
"We had some situations early in the season, then he went through a pretty good stretch. Last night was not a good one but I think he will move forward with this and continue to get better. I'm sure his progress will look what the great base stealers in the game look like. He will get better and more efficient as he gets more experience doing it.
"I want him to push it and be aggressive. It's important that he does. It's important for all of us to recognize the impact he has on the game. It's obvious the impact these base stealers have, even when they're not running. It's pretty obvious; you can see it."
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