clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Hardest To Steal On? Survey Says: Yadier Molina, But Gerald Laird's No. 2

This week's Sports Illustrated player poll (last week's was "Best Fastball in Baseball") asked MLB players which catcher is the hardest to steal on. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of St. Louis Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina, but Gerald Laird came in tied for second with Minnesota's Joe Mauer and former-Tigers' catcher, Ivan Rodriguez. 

↵
↵

Molina received 58% of the vote followed by Gerald Laird (9%) of the Detroit Tigers, the Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer (9%), the Washington Nationals' Ivan Rodriguez (9%) and the Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Molina (2%).

↵
↵

In seven seasons, Molina has gunned down 46% of the stupid runners trying to steal on him. Gerald Laird has caught 38% of his attempted base thieves over the course of his career. Ivan Rodriguez, who may go down in history as the best defensive catcher of all-time, has fallen off in recent years due to age, but also touts a career 46% success rate at nabbing runners. Obviously, some of the younger base stealers don't remember the younger Pudge.