Red Sox Debate: Mookie Betts vs Mike Trout for AL MVP
By Sean Penney
Baserunning is another area where Betts has a slight advantage. He’s tied for second in the AL with 11 steals in 13 attempts this season. That total is boosted by Thursday’s three-steal performance against Baltimore’s Kevin Gausman, who seemed oblivious to every runner on base. But hey, all steals count the same.
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Trout has converted all eight of his steal attempts. He’s a bit behind in total but his perfect percentage is a feather in his cap.
Baserunning is about more than stolen bases. Advancing from first to third on a base hit, tagging up on a fly ball, and avoiding double plays are among the factors that count toward Baserunning Runs (Rbr). Betts has produced 2 Rbr this season while Trout is at 1 Rbr.
Trout takes an extra base at a higher rate with a 46 XBT% that is slightly higher than Mookie’s 44 XBT%. Trout has also made one fewer out on the bases than Betts has this year. It’s not much of a difference yet still an advantage for the Angels star.
FanGraphs has their own way of measuring baserunning with a stat called BsR. Betts is tied for 8th in the AL with 2.0 BsR while Trout is 13th with 1.6 BsR.
As far as both sites are concerned, both are elite baserunners but Betts has been a little bit better.