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    « BACK to Erin Bruehl's portfolio

    Posted 09.01.04
    Mets running wisely under Coach Pettis: Players credit first-base coach for stellar steal success rate
    (published in amNew York 7/29/04)

    By Erin Bruehl

    Sometimes it's the way a pitcher moves his glove. Other times it's how he lifts his leg or how he shifts his feet. It could even be how many times he looks at a runner. No matter what the tip-off that a pitcher is going to throw to first, Gary Pettis will likely spot it.

    The Mets led the major leagues with an 82.5% stolen-base success rate (69-0f-82) entering last night's game, and many of the players credit Pettis, their first-base coach, for that statistic.

    Stealing is often referred to as a lost art, but Pettis is doing his part to help players gain the confidence to steal.

    "He can pretty much get down to almost exact in terms of what a pitcher is going to do," Cliff Floyd, who has five stolen bases this year and 123 for his career, told amNewYork. "And as a base runner you know pitchers don't really change. He's been outstanding in terms of helping our guys run."

    When he played, Pettis, who stole 354 bases in 458 attempts -- a 76.6% success rate -- in a 10-year career with the Angels, Tigers, Rangers and Padres, studied pitchers' motions from the dugout. Now he studies their motions on videotapes.

    While reluctant to give away his secrets, he says he's learned that many pitchers make the same mistakes.

    "If you see one, you've pretty much seen them all," he said.

    "If I can give a base runner a little something that will give him the confidence to attempt a stolen base anytime he's out there, then that's what I am there for."

    His message changes depending on who's on first. For the speedy Jose Reyes, who has 12 stolen bases in 13 tries in 2004 and is free to run whenever he chooses, Pettis speaks up when he notices a pitcher being slow in his delivery to the plate. For slower players, he may speak up when he thinks the pitcher is ignoring the runner altogether.

    Pettis declines to take credit for the team's baserunning success.

    "There are certain things I look for in pitchers that I try to relate to them," he said. But he added, "I can't run for them or get the jump that they can get."