Brian Roberts: More Than Just A Leadoff Guy For Baltimore Orioles

"The one thing I talked to my agent about is that everyone says I'm a speed guy, and speed will go down as I age. But I don't really play like a speed guy. For one, I've never been a guy that gets out of the batter's box very quickly. I don't get a lot of infield hits, and I'm not reliant on them to hit .300.

"I don't bunt very much. My numbers, for the most part, are strictly hitting. And as for base-stealing, I stole more bases at 30 than I did at 25. Most of my base running is based on understanding how to run the bases and how to steal bases."

-Brian Roberts (Spencer Fordin, MLB.com)

Roberts is correct. As a diminutive middle infielder with strong stolen base totals, he is often pigeonholed as that celebrated baseball player archetype, the Speed Guy.

Everyone loves the speed guy. Willie Mays Hayes was so adored that he was magically morphed into Omar Epps when Wesley Snipes had become too famous to reprise the role in Major League II. Every spring, the baseball writer at the local paper churns out his annual “PLAYER Ready To Take It From The Top” column about the guy scheduled to spend the season perched atop the local team’s lineup.

Like closers, cleanup hitters, setup men, staff aces, and superutility man, the leadoff hitter is one of those unnecessary titles that have about as much to do with baseball as the FOX robot graphics that have encapsulated audiences since the mid-90s with their wild, futuristic displays of what robots would look like if they were to become extremely muscular and run across TV screens during broadcasts of sporting events.

General-leadoff-hitter hype aside, Roberts is correct about his skill set. He is indeed an excellent base runner and his base-stealing prowess appears to be improving with age, having swiped an average of 42 bases per season at an 84 percent success rate over the past three seasons, compared to 26 per year at 74 percent during his first three full seasons in the majors.

However, base running is just one part of Roberts’ skill, as he also does those really important things that form the basis of offensive production, which are drawing walks and hitting for power. Over the past five seasons, Roberts has averaged 60 extra-base hits and 72.8 walks a season.

For the sake of comparison, celebrated Mets shortstop Jose Reyes has averaged 61.5 extra-base hits and 55.75 walks a year since becoming a big-league regular four years ago. Of course, Reyes is six years younger than Roberts and has room for growth, but to this point the players have maintained a similar level of performance over the course of their respective careers. 

Roberts is not an MVP-caliber player, but he is valuable, probably more so than he has been given credit for at this point in his career. He is certainly not a “Speed Guy.” Like Reyes or the Indians’ Grady Sizemore, he is an excellent player who should be given lots of at-bats at the top of a batting order, but not for the reasons that are generally discussed.