Article: How Fast Is Byron Buxton?

[Parker Hageman]

Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media arm released a new set of data to the public on Tuesday: the Sprint Speed metric.

 

Sprint Speed was introduced in April but was limited, showing the speed of outfielders and defense only at that time. After some modifications and additions, the group has added baserunning and has created a leaderboard for consumption at BaseballSavant.com. As Minnesota Twins fans have seen with their eyes, like when he beats out bunts back to the pitcher, and through various other StatCast metrics like Max Speed, Distance Covered and Viscosity*, Byron Buxton is fast. Thanks to the data captured by MLB, we now know just how fast he is and where he stands among the game’s speediest speedsters.Byron Buxton is the second fastest in baseball. Sorry to disappoint the speed enthusiasts.

 

When it comes to the fastest man in the game, the Reds’ Billy Hamilton has the bragging rights, covering a 30.1 feet per second, while Buxton checks in right behind him at 29.9 feet per second. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is someone Twins fans might recall seeing move at a snail’s pace in a recent series: Albert Pujols. Pujols’ running abilities are obviously hampered by injuries but nevertheless at 23.3 feet per second, he is the slowest man in baseball. In case you wanted to know who the slowest man in a Twins uniform is, that honor is shared by two men: Jason Castro and Kennys Vargas.

 

If you are wondering how the sausage is made, MLB’s Mike Petriello explains how it all works:

 

As we discussed in April, we're measuring speed in terms of "feet per second in a player's fastest one-second window," because feet and seconds make a lot more sense in the context of baseball than miles and hours. While three feet per second may not sound like much, if you were to maintain that speed for four or five seconds, suddenly you're talking 12-15 feet. It can be the difference between being safe or out or not even trying. While Hamilton averages about 30 feet per second, Olympian Usain Bolt, by comparison, has reached up to 37 feet per second in his first 40 meters.

 

The sausage-makers also did you a favor by removing the instances when a runner was jogging to first or pulled up to trot home on an uncontested play. Sprint Speed is only interested in maximum effort plays.

 

Considering that when I first started writing about baseball before the advent of Pitch FX and I had to chart my own swing-and-misses and pitch types during games, this is a substantial innovation. It is novel, to be sure, but I still am left thinking about the applicable use of this specific metric. It will help settle some bar bets and I certainly can see this number splayed on a broadcast after someone like Buxton covers a ton of territory in the outfield or rips a triple, but in terms of the analysis of the game? Part of me just wants StatCast to release a generic baseball skill leaderboard. I want to sort through the rankings of guys’ home-to-first times, catcher’s POP times and a pitcher’s delivery time -- things of that nature so I won’t have to bring a stopwatch to a game (note: I do not bring a stopwatch to a game). MLB probably won’t do this because sites like Fangraphs or Baseball Prospectus could use that data to create their own metrics, so we have to be satisfied with the morsels that MLBAM provides us.

 

While this data may be a surface-scratcher, there are some things of interest when you parse the list. Take note of the fastball Minnesota Twins:

 

Eduardo Escobar happens to be the fourth-fastest member of the Twins with an above average speed of 28 feet per second. That would be considered swift. Yet over his seven year career, he is just 8-for-17 in stole base attempts, averaging just five attempts per year. How is it that he is such a bad base-stealer? Are his leads inferior? Does his jumps suck? What is it about Escobar that makes a fleet-footed individual below-average at stealing bases? StatCast’s data leads to more questions which, unfortunately, have to be addressed through more StatCast data that isn’t available.

 

Oh well.

 

At least we now know Byron Buxton is very fast.

 

*Not a real thing but you bought it for a brief second which just goes to show how little you pay attention to StatCast.

 

Click here to view the article

[Jham]

Cool article. Wish we could see the fps for each player in the list to see what sort of gaps there are. Interesting that Dozier is so low despite his success running.

[chaderic20]

What's the MLB average? Which Twins fall above and below that line?

 

Is the data broken down such that you can see a player's offensive versus defensive speeds?

[bluechipper]

I still say Buxton is faster than Hamilton. Look at the leaderboard for the previous 2 seasons.

[yarnivek1972]

Buxton is the fastest guy to the dugout after a strike out in MLB.

[bluechipper]

 

What's the MLB average? Which Twins fall above and below that line?

Is the data broken down such that you can see a player's offensive versus defensive speeds?

27 is the average. Grossman on up are above average, and Sano on down are slightly below average.

[Doomtints]

MLB has a flawed approach. This is why others need to be doing the metrics.

[Parker Hageman]

 

MLB has a flawed approach. This is why others need to be doing the metrics.

 

I will say, they did hire the right people to dig into it. Tom Tango and Daren Willman are v good at what they do. 

[Brandon]

I wonder what some of the great stolen base leaders speed was? Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, Lou Brock

[Brandon]

I wonder what some of the great stolen base leaders speed was? Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, Lou Brock

[mikelink45]

All I want from our players is - fast enough.  If they are stealing then they need to beat the throw, if a player is on base they need to beat the DP and get home.  Fast is one measurement, but success is the most important. 

[Doomtints]

 

I will say, they did hire the right people to dig into it. Tom Tango and Daren Willman are v good at what they do. 

 

Anyone who is "very good" would not be signing off on a system where only a runner's fastest second is measured. That's peak speed, not sprint speed. In fact, this entire idea is laughable and I'm surprised anyone would play along! I don't know why people who consume baseball stats never question what they are being fed. This contributes to people like Tom Tango being in an echo chamber where work is not properly vetted.

 

There are multiple problems with MLBs definition of "sprint" and their implementation of a "fastest runner" metric.

 

It would take competitive sprinters 3 seconds to reach first base. Sprint runners would laugh in your face if you counted the fastest second in a 3 second window and tried to apply that to the whole.

 

Professional sprinters will also tell you that it is the slowest second that matters -- not the fastest. Races are won by mastering the quick launch, esp. in the 60m, and making it to a base is half that.

 

There is a reason all seconds in a race count. There is also a reason Bill James mocks most sanctioned baseball metrics and the people who consume them without checking for themselves.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Doomtints

[Parker Hageman]

 

Anyone who is "very good" would not be signing off on a system where only a runner's fastest second is measured. That's peak speed, not sprint speed. In fact, this entire idea is laughable and I'm surprised anyone would play along! I don't know why people who consume baseball stats never question what they are being fed. This contributes to people like Tom Tango being in an echo chamber where work is not properly vetted.

 

There are multiple problems with MLBs definition of "sprint" and their implementation of a "fastest runner" metric.

 

It would take competitive sprinters 3 seconds to reach first base. Sprint runners would laugh in your face if you counted the fastest second in a 3 second window and tried to apply that to the whole.

 

Professional sprinters will also tell you that it is the slowest second that matters -- not the fastest. Races are won by mastering the quick launch, esp. in the 60m, and making it to a base is half that.

 

There is a reason all seconds in a race count. There is also a reason Bill James mocks most sanctioned baseball metrics.

 

This seems to be arguing the semantics about what the word "sprint" means. I say it is a cellphone carrier and I cannot believe Tom Tango would sign off on that.

 

But in all seriousness, the metric is flawed to some degree. 

[Jham]

This seems to be arguing the semantics about what the word "sprint" means. I say it is a cellphone carrier and I cannot believe Tom Tango would sign off on that.

 

But in all seriousness, the metric is flawed to some degree.

All are. Doesn't mean it's not a useful tool! Thanks for posting.

[gunnarthor]

I bet Buxton is faster than lint

[Teddy]

Frankly, I would love to see a stat like Viscosity. It would show who is the most smooth at top speed. Of course, purists like Dan Gladden would tell me to simply open my eyes and watch, but where's the fun in that? We don't watch baseball for fun, do we?

[Respy]

It was an interesting article, though honestly very few surprises for the Twins or the league.  Two things I noticed though:

 

1) I thought Kepler was faster.  Obviously not Buxton fast, but I thought Kepler would be a tier above Polanco/Escobar/Rosario.

 

2) Buxton 2017 is 29.9 ft/sec, 2016 was 30.7 ft/sec (higher than Billy Hamilton at 30.2 ft/sec!).  I'd imagine Buxton's  max running speed was essentially the same both seasons.  That shows me that there's still a fair amount of error in how they are measuring this.

Edited June 27, 2017 by Respy

[Craig Arko]

The Flash vs. Quicksilver.

 

https://www.wired.com/2014/06/whos-faster-flash-or-quicksilver/

[spinowner]

What's more difficult to measure is how good of a baserunner a player is. TK once said that Kent Hrbek was a very good baserunner, and I'm sure what he meant by that was that Hrbek could read batted balls well and could judge well whether he'd be able to take an extra base in any given situation. Of course there was that pickoff at second base in the 1987 WS...

And when it comes to stolen bases knowing how large of a lead to take and when to make the move are critical skills to possess. Speed can compensate for deficiencies there but only to a limited extent.

[Comrade Bork]

10 yards a second is insane... Wow!

[h2oface]

I wish that speed would turn into a lot more stolen bases.

[bluechipper]

 

I wish that speed would turn into a lot more stolen bases.

It probably would if he was on base. Still 6th in the AL in steals while hitting .199.

[yarnivek1972]

He can catch and is fast. How is it that he wasn't a wide receiver?

[Thrylos]

Fun stuff. 

A couple of (unrelated) things:

 

a. Is that peak velocity or average velocity.  If it is the latter, does that count cruising into third from first in a double while the third base coach pulled the stop sign?

 

b. To put things into perspective:  The fastest man in baseball runs at 30.1 ft/sec.  Flo Jo, who may rest in peace,  ran her best 100m at 31.5 ft/sec and would had kicked both Hamilton's and Buxton's rear end in a foot race.  Bolt's best 100m is at 34.4 ft/sec, which turns Buxton into Vargas by comparison.

 

That 30 ft/sec translates to 11 second times for the 100 yards dash, which likely will not win a High School 100m race in most places.  This seems about right, since Buxton's 60 yard dash numbers in High School was 6.57 (27.4 ft/sec).

 

Edited June 27, 2017 by Thrylos

[AustinW]

I don't like it when people compare speeds between baseball players and sprinters. The running conditions are not exactly the same, and that makes a difference when you are looking at it to the .1 ft/sec. Baseball players are running on dirt, where sprinters run on a hard track. Baseball players are commonly running in a curved path not a straight line, and have to be a little more aware of what is going on around them than sprinters. This can add up to a couple ft/sec difference, which is a lot.

 

I am not saying that Buxton would beat Bolt in a race, because he wouldn't, but it would be closer than these numbers suggest.

[diehardtwinsfan]

The ultimate answer to a guy like Escobar is an issue of velocity vs. acceleration. It's a calculus problem at the end of the day. Top end velocity is one thing, but you have to combine it with fast acceleration. Buxton has both. I'm guessing a guy like Escobar might be missing something in the acceleration category (along with say poorer instincts or a poor lead) making that minor split second of a difference a really big one when the catcher is firing a much faster throw to 2nd or 3rd.

[HitInAPinch]

Viscosity?  You want to measure how thick and sticky a ballplayer is?  That's just sick...

[spinowner]

 

He can catch and is fast. How is it that he wasn't a wide receiver?

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather play baseball than football.

[Parker Hageman]

 

The ultimate answer to a guy like Escobar is an issue of velocity vs. acceleration. It's a calculus problem at the end of the day. Top end velocity is one thing, but you have to combine it with fast acceleration. Buxton has both. I'm guessing a guy like Escobar might be missing something in the acceleration category (along with say poorer instincts or a poor lead) making that minor split second of a difference a really big one when the catcher is firing a much faster throw to 2nd or 3rd.

 

Acceleration is another data point StatCast can measure but doesn't allow for public consumption.

[Jham]

Regardless, he's fast at baseball. Now go back to the leg kick so we can see that speed rounding first instead of back to the dugout.