“Speed never slumps.” It’s a baseball cliché as old as the game itself; but is it a cliché or a fact?

By the time a minor league baseball player makes it to the Big leagues (if he ever does, that is), he is pretty much expected to have a basic understanding of how to run the bases, and if he is fast enough, a basic understanding of how to steal bases. And while much of what they have learned about base running and base stealing along the way came from years of coaching, much of it is raw talent and instinct – neither of which can be taught; and no matter how well or poorly they hit throughout their Major League career and if they stay healthy, their speed never goes into a slump.

Prior to his mid-season promotion to Double-A, I had the pleasure of watching Cincinnati Reds prospect Billy Hamilton in person during a game between the Bakersfield Blaze and the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. I can honestly say that Hamilton is the fastest base runner I have ever seen – Major League or Minor League. I saw him again on TV during the 2012 Futures Game where he easily stretched a double into a triple. This kid can flat out fly. In fact, as of today – Friday, August 17, 2012, Hamilton has 141 stolen bases this season – four shy of the all-time Minor League record of 145 set by Vince Coleman in 1983. You can pretty much count on Hamilton owning the record come Monday morning.

Billy Hamilton is five stolen bases shy of becoming the greatest base stealer in Minor League history.

This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I watched yet another young speedster in action, and though I had heard that he was fast, I had no idea he was this fast – especially for a kid who is listed at 6-3 / 215. The player is Yasiel Puig, who recently signed a 7-year/$42 million contract with the Dodgers – not bad for an untested 21-year-old who recently defected from Cuba. Although I was as surprised as anybody with this mega-dollar/multi-year signing, I am keeping an open mind, with hopes that he will be the next Cristóbal Torriente.

After signing with the Dodgers, Puig was immediately sent to the Arizona Rookie League, where he absolute tore it up with the Arizona Dodgers… in only nine games. During these nine games, Puig went 12 for 30 (.400) with four home runs, three triples, six walks and 11 RBIs. He was clearly out of his class, thus earning a promotion to the Dodgers Advanced Single-A Quakes completely bypassing Low-A.

Even though Puig only went 1 for 4 in his August 14 debut with the Quakes, he hit the ball extremely hard during each at bat and it’s only a matter of time before the big hits come. Puig did reach base on a throwing error, but he was quickly forced out moments later to end the inning. His base hit came with the bases empty, thus the runway was clear ahead of him. It was then that I witnessed something that I have always been a huge proponent of. Puig took a very large lead from first base, especially against a left-handed pitcher. It was as if he actually wanted to get picked off so that he could break for second base, which is exactly what happened.

With only the slightest of a flinch back to first base, Puig immediately broke for second base at full speed with absolutely no intention whatsoever of getting into a rundown. For reasons only he knows, the shortstop did not break to cover second base (with a left-handed batter at the plate) and the throw went to the second baseman, who was out of position for the tag and Puig slid safely into second base.

Now I certainly wouldn’t recommend challenging a pitcher to pick you off so that you can try to steal second base and I have a hard time believing that there is a coach anywhere (even Cuba) who would teach such a thing regardless of how fast the runner is, but the point here is that if a runner does get picked off first base, his chances of successfully making it to second base safely are at least a little better than trying to escape a rundown, so why bother getting into a rundown at all? Why not take your chances and go for it? Make them make a perfect throw and a perfect tag. I mean, how often do you see a guy successfully escape a rundown? Sure, it happens, but not very often.

Here again, I wouldn’t recommend that Puig add this pick-off thing to his base stealing bag of tricks because the chances of it working will diminish significantly with each progressive level of the Minor Leagues and will pretty much be non-existent at the Major League level; but it worked for Yasiel Puig this time and I suspect that it will work again for him in the future.