3 LA Angels who will benefit most from larger bases in 2023

No. 1 LA Angel who will benefit most from larger bases in 2023: Shohei Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani is already the fastest baserunner in the American League. His peers named him that, and judging off of his ability to literally steal home, he may be the fastest baserunner in all of baseball.

If he can steal home, he can steal anything if the bases are enlarged. Maddon didn't send him as much as he could have last year, as Ohtani finished with 26 on the year. That's still a lot overall compared to most Major League ballplayers, though, as Ohtani was still top five in the AL in stolen bases.

Expect Maddon to send him quite a bit more as the base size expands in 2023. Also, Ohtani's the same guy who has shown he can bunt for a base hit as well. Making the base bigger is essentially another half step, which is too much to give a speedy athlete like Ohtani.

Bigger bases with giant stride lengths that we already see from the 6'4" specimen is going to correlate to a lot of extra bases taken by ShoTime. It's going to help the Angels, and they have a chance to go from a team in the top half of the league in steals to the top third.