SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The Rockies’ Willi Castro has demonstrated effectiveness with the bat, as evidenced by his 48 extra-base hits with the Twins two seasons ago. He’s pliable defensively, with 88 or more games at six positions in seven seasons.
As a baserunner, however, Castro is downright marketable. It was one of the first qualities that president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and manager Warren Schaeffer mentioned when acknowledging Castro’s two-year, $12.8 million signing.
And Castro is as happy to talk about running as he is doing it.
“I’m pretty good at baserunning,” Castro said. “I anticipate before plays happen. You already know where to go when a ball in the gap lands -- drive to the right-field line, the left-field line. The mentality is to score because that’s how you win ballgames.”
This is the time of year when teams that didn’t win the previous year vow to run aggressively in hopes of changing that. At 43-119, the Rockies are one of those teams. Not only did the team bring in Castro, but it traded with the Diamondbacks for true basestealer Jake McCarthy. And taking the next 90 feet -- or 180 or even 270 when the ball is in play -- is a featured part of the decree for Schaeffer, the interim manager for five months last year.
The idea is to make creating chaos on the bases part of the Rockies’ planned way of life, and Schaffer and the new staff are lead and background in this culture club.
The sound from the dugout was pleasing on Tuesday. With two down in the fourth inning against the Angels, Braxton Fulford singled to left field, and McCarthy went from first to third right in front of Angels left fielder Wade Meckler. Coaches of all job descriptions whooped it up, and players followed.
“That’s a culture you develop,” Schaeffer said. “Paul has said this a million times to the media, but the two guys we brought in, Jake and Willi, are extremely good baserunners. You could argue that Jake is probably a better basestealer but they’re both great baserunners. We want that to rub off on the rest of the guys as well, to teach them the right way.”
This is where fans, media, even players respond with, "That’s fine in February, but what about the summer?"
The Rockies have center fielder Brenton Doyle, who had 30 steals in 2024. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar has the baseball sense and athletic ability to be a threat on the bases, and infielder-outfielder Tyler Freeman and outfielders Mickey Moniak and Jordan Beck rank solid in pure speed. Fulford averaged 29.1 feet per second on his sprint speed, according to Statcast -- fastest among MLB catchers last season as well as fastest among catchers since 2015.
But the Rockies finished 13th in the National League and 23rd among 30 teams overall with just 87 stolen bases last year, with Beck’s 19 leading the squad. And with the ball in play, the Rockies weren’t anywhere near an aggressive team.
Keep in mind that they were celebrating first-to-third and other baserunning feats in Spring Training.
What gave?
The biggest problem was their well-documented poor starting pitching, with the rotation posting a 6.65 ERA -- the worst since ERA became a statistic in 1913.
Being habitually behind has a way of stopping running feet.
“There were times last year where we were down early, so you shut the running game down -- you can’t run them, and you have to take the risk down a notch,” Schaeffer said.
But when you have folks as fast as McCarthy (ninth in the game at 29.9 feet per second) and Doyle (23rd at 29.5), it’s tough to stand still.
“There’s that unwritten rule in baseball that if you’re down a bunch, stealing bags isn’t a priority -- but the plan this year is not to be down in as many games,” Doyle said. “We want to be on the other side of it.”
McCarthy can speak with experience that a team can go from constantly being behind to highly competitive. McCarthy broke in with the 101-loss Diamondbacks in 2021. Two years later, the Diamondbacks made the World Series.
McCarthy, who had 23 or more steals each season from 2022-24, believes that then, as well as in the future with the Rockies, a team can prove that running can be a big part of winning.
“It’s a reflection of who you are as a teammate -- getting an extra 90 feet for the guy in the box and getting him an RBI, putting pressure on the defense,” McCarthy said. “I try to think about when I’m in the outfield and a guy is running hard out of the box, how it makes me feel, how it makes me speed up.
“If we do that as a roster, one through nine [in the lineup], we could be really dangerous.”