Jarrod Dyson Shows What Speed Can Do, Without Even Running

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Before Game 3 of the ALCS, Jarrod Dyson ruffled a few feathers with his confident comments, suggesting the Royals would prevent the series from returning to Baltimore, and that the Orioles would be rattled if Kansas City took a 3-0 lead. Dyson basically said the Royals were in the Orioles’ collective dome.

Following last night’s victory, I think it’s safe to say he was right.

As a reserve, Dyson doesn’t have many opportunities to make an impact on a game, but when those opportunities arise, they tend to come in high leverage situations. If you look at the box score, it doesn’t look like he has done much. He did score the game-winning run last night, but that’s basically it, as far as stats go. He’s attempted to steal twice, and he was thrown out both times. But watching the game reveals another story.

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The Orioles have completely altered the way they pitch when Dyson is on first base. Their pitchers are typically quick to home, and they vary their hold times to keep Dyson from timing his jump, but they’ve done something else to try and curtail the Royals’ dangerous running game. First baseman Steve Pearce has been holding Dyson on by standing several feet off the base, then quickly shuffling back to prepare for a throw over.

It’s been effective, with the Royals only stealing one base thus far, but positioning Pearce that way has left the right side of the infield vulnerable. With a normal runner, he can start to shade back to a regular position once it’s clear the pitcher isn’t going to throw to first. With Dyson on first, the possibility of a pickoff attempt exists up until the very last second, when the pitcher starts his motion to the plate.

Watch the first few seconds of this video to see what I mean. In the 6th inning last night, Nori Aoki hit a single, and Dyson entered the game as a pinch runner. Lorenzo Cain struck out, bringing Eric Hosmer to the plate. Wei-Yin Chen was pitching, and made a couple of pickoff attempts to keep Dyson close, but that would prove to be detrimental.

Pearce shuffles back toward the bag, just in case Chen throws over, but Chen’s quick move to the plate prevents his first baseman from getting into the best fielding position for Hosmer’s well-struck groundball. While the Orioles likely wanted to protect the lines in that situation, Pearce was far closer to the line than he probably needed to be.

That’s what speed do, as they say.

The Orioles would rather leave their defenders slightly out of position than allow Dyson to have even the tiniest chance of getting a quality jump. I understand the idea, of course, but as this play shows, it’s a bit of a “pick your poison” situation.

There’s another aspect of this play that shows the kind of impact the Royals’ speed has had on the series, and that is in who was on the mound. After Aoki reached base, Cain came to the plate, having already collected 2 hits on the night. Being a lefty, Chen was on the wrong side of the platoon advantage, but Buck Showalter left him in there anyway.

The Orioles’ manager may have had multiple reasons for this (the possibility for extra innings last night, as well as the potential for 5 games in 5 days, might have prompted him to save his bullpen) but I have no doubt that Dyson’s presence on first base played a part in his decision making.

Chen’s extremely quick to the plate, whereas Kevin Gausman – who was warming in the bullpen – is right-handed and doesn’t possess as quick of a delivery. Showalter risked pitching to the Royals’ hottest hitter with a left-handed starter, just to limit the possibility of a stolen base from Dyson.

Fortunately for Showalter, Chen struck out Cain, but that essentially forced him to leave Chen in for the left-handed Hosmer, who also has been seeing the ball well in the playoffs. Hosmer turned out to be one batter too many for the Orioles’ lefty.

There has been a lot of talk about the “times through the order penalty” this postseason, and it probably would have been wise for Showalter to go to his bullpen before the heart of the Royals’ order could see Chen for a third time. Instead, he opted to stick with his best steal prevention option, and the Royals took full advantage.

Dyson still has yet to steal a base in the ALCS, but there should be no question that he’s made his presence known. Simply standing on first base has forced the Orioles to alter their gameplan, and created opportunities for his teammates to seize. While his comments may have come off as brash, Dyson’s got a good reason to be confident, and his speed is a big reason the Royals are now one win away from the World Series.