At just 21, Starlin Castro is sure to improve pretty much every aspect of his game in the coming years. That's quite a scary thought for the rest of the league, when you consider that he was 10th in the National League in batting average last year(.300), and is 10th again this year(.312).
While most of the talk about Castro's likely improvements are about his power at the plate and defense, you don't hear much about how he could get better as a base-stealer. And from just last season to this season, he's already made huge strides in that department.
Last season, Castro stole 10 bases, but was caught eight times. This season, he's already stolen eight bases, and has not been caught once.
It's not all that surprising, because Castro has terrific speed which he puts on display when he legs out a triple. Running around the bases has never been a problem for him. Stealing bases is an art though. It's about getting a good jump, knowing how big of a lead you can get on a pitcher(of course the base coach usually helps in that regard), picking the right count to run on if you go on your own, etc. Clearly, Castro has made adjustments in those areas, and the jumps he's getting are noticeably better than they were last year.
The Cubs are currently last in the majors in stolen bases this season(19), and were tied for last with the Giants last season(55). So it would be nice if Castro could turn into a 25+ base-stealer in the future, and the Cubs could actually use speed to create some runs, rather than waiting around for the three-run homer.
