Marlins catcher Liam Hicks is struggling to throw out would-be base stealers
NEW YORK (AP) — Allowing the New York Yankees to steal five bases in their home opener against Miami extended a troubling trend for Marlins catcher Liam Hicks.
He has yet to catch a runner in the first nine attempts against him this season after going just 6 for 57 in his rookie year. At 6 for 66 in his career, Hicks’ success rate of 10% ranks among the worst at the position.
“Obviously, it’s not great,” Hicks said after an 8-2 loss Friday at Yankee Stadium. “You don’t want guys to steal bases. That’s a part of the game you’re not trying to allow happen. But it’s part of the game. We’ve just got to be better. I’ve got to be quicker. Just going to keep getting better.”
Hicks said calling for pickoffs, making them and mixing up timing are the ways to improve.
The nine stolen bases against him are the third most by any catcher through games Friday. Tampa Bay’s Nick Fortes and and Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk have allowed 10 apiece.
“Liam has made some good throws in spring training,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He made some early in the season. (Friday) he made the best throws that he could, I think, under the kind of jumps that they got.”
McCullough called it a tough day all around, citing the 11 walks that were more than Miami pitchers had issued over the first six games combined. Even with those and runners on base, Hicks did not want to blame pitchers or shy away from his role in the situation.
“Ideally you want to be as quick as possible, but you also have a pitch you have to throw,” Hicks said. “You can’t just rush to the plate, and you’ve got really good hitters up there, too. You’ve got to focus on the pitch you’re going to throw, too, so it’s a little bit of both. I think we can do a lot of things to do better, and me especially: Just make better throws.”
On one of the Yankees’ steals, Hicks didn’t even make a throw to second base because Jose Caballero got such a good jump that even perfection would not have gotten the runner out. Caballero and Jazz Chisolm Jr. each had two stolen bases and Aaron Judge picked up his first of the season.
“It’s complete baseball,” Judge said. “If you can add that into the mix, especially with our lineup, that’ll be good.”
Manager Aaron Boone said running became part of the Yankees’ identity in the second half last season. They have 11 stolen bases through their first seven games for just the ninth time in franchise history.
“We’ve got a handful of guys that can really push it in the running game,” Boone said. “It’s just more day in and day out, like ‘What’s the matchup?’ Sometimes you’re going to have good opportunities to run. Other days, other series, you’re not necessarily. We got some of the right guys on, and we were able to get it going.”
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