The Official Site of Chase Utley

Wed, Mar 3rd 2010, 10:19

Add base stealing to Utley's skills

By the end of it – an 8-6 win over the Yankees that prolonged the World Series for 2 more nights – the sequence of events was long forgotten, overshadowed by the two home runs Chase Utley hit and the Game 6 they helped force. But while home runs might forever define this Phillies team and its All-Star second baseman, it is subtle moments like the ones that occurred in the third inning of Game 5 that bear a true testament to the Phillies’ success.

Utley started the frame with a leadoff walk, stole second with Ryan Howard at the plate, then scampered the rest of the way home on a ground single by Jayson Werth.

“There’s no doubt that Chase is a special player,” Werth said, “He’s a superstar, he’s a perennial All-Star, but he doesn’t lack in any dimension. He is as good a hitter as he is a fielder as he is a baserunner, as he is a teammate. He has all aspects.”

From the power he displayed in the postseason to his refined offseason training regimen, there are plenty of reasons why many in the Phillies organization are giddy about Utley’s prospects for the 2010 season. But just as impressive as his home-run potential is the way he has developed into one of the top baserunners in the National League.

Unlike teammate Jimmy Rollins, Utley has never stolen 40 bases in a season, has never manufactured a true steal of home, and has never possessed the fastest 60-yard time in the clubhouse. But he has “taken” 96 more bases than the average MLB player over the last 5 years, which, according to respected researcher John Dewan, is the highest total in the National League during that stretch (the Indians’ Grady Sizemore is the only player who took more, with 104).

“He knows the situation,” first-base coach Davey Lopes said. “He goes first-to-third, he goes second-to-home, he reads the ball well, all that kind of stuff . . . That’s good baserunning. The ability to see things and react quickly to them, more so than maybe someone else, or wait until the ball is on a downward flight or hits the ground before they run.”

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