Hunter Pence is a badass base-runner.
When you look at the box score for Friday's Giants-Nationals game, you'll see that Hunter Pence grounded into a fielder's choice, stole a base and scored a run in the fourth inning. That summary is accurate, but it doesn't come close to describing the whole story.
From FanGraphs:
"On the 'Value' section of FanGraphs player pages, UBR is combined with wSB to constitute 'Base Running' (BsR), one of the components of Wins Above Replacement (WAR)."
Pence is sixth in BsR among National League players since the start of the 2012 season. Perhaps his studliness today should have been predicted. Here's how the situation played out.
With a runner on first and no one out, Pence chopped a routine groundball to shortstop. He busted it out of the box, hustling to beat out the double play and was safe at first. He got a solid jump and stole second easily. When Brandon Belt singled to Jayson Werth, Pence read the ball, took a splendid angle to third, made another near ideal turn and scored easily.
This sequence of events needed every component to turn out the way it did. A lesser base runner may have:
1. Not gotten out of the box well and been doubled up at the outset.
2. Gotten a poor jump and been thrown out on the stolen base attempt, or never attempted to take the base at all.
3. Taken a choppier turn and been gunned down or held up at third base.
As a result of Pence's mental and physical wheels, the Giants extended their lead, changed the energy of the game and impacted the way it will be managed.
The game was far from over at that point, but there is no doubt Pence made an indelible mark in this Giants-Nationals battle.
This was a matter of base running, and base running matters.
