Today Fangraphs released their new metric, Ultimate Base Running, that measures the number of runs that a player gains and loses running the bases. The data is from 2002 and on and doesn't take into account SB/CS which was previously counted in base runs. I have just gone through to see how the Royals faired.
For the 2011 season, the Royals are 4th in the league at +3.9 runs. I can't believe we are actually 4th. Is the rest of the league that bad? Since 2002, the team is 19th in the league with -11.9 runs. With 10 runs equating to one win, all the complaining about base running as been the equivalent of one win since 2002.
Besides the team, here are the best and worst Royals base runners since 2002:
| Name | Bsr |
| David DeJesus | 14.1 |
| Carlos Beltran | 11.4 |
| Angel Berroa | 7.2 |
| Alex Gordon | 6.5 |
| Mike Aviles | 5.7 |
| Joey Gathright | 5.3 |
| Mark Grudzielanek | 4.9 |
| Mark Teahen | 4.4 |
| Ruben Gotay | 3.3 |
| Neifi Perez | 3.1 |
| Mitch Maier | -3.9 |
| Doug Mientkiewicz | -4.0 |
| Ryan Shealy | -4.1 |
| John Buck | -4.5 |
| Alberto T. Castillo | -5.9 |
| Matt Stairs | -6.9 |
| Ken Harvey | -7.1 |
| Jose Guillen | -7.2 |
| Billy Butler | -17.1 |
| Tony Pena | -17.1 |
Tony Pena was as bad a base runner as Bulter. I just don't buy that one for sure. The rest of the list seem to generally make sense. Thoughts?