Like Arrieta, Montero didn’t develop this problem overnight. Every year since 2014, Montero has had one of the five slowest pop times to second base among catchers with at least 20 throws. His caught stealing rate has suffered as a result, as he threw out just 5 of 64 potential basestealers in 2016 and 0 of 31 this year.
Looking at those numbers, the Nationals’ baserunning success wasn’t all that surprising. Baseball Info Solutions calculates the likelihood that a stolen base attempt will be successful based on a pitcher’s handedness and delivery time, catcher’s pop time, and runner’s stolen base time. Anthony Rendon, who stole just his fourth base of the season during the game, had a 92 percent chance of being safe on a stolen base attempt against the Arrieta-Montero combination. For comparison, if Wilson Contreras had been behind the plate, Rendon’s projected success rate would have been just 59 percent. On the other hand, if it had been Jon Lester pitching to Montero, that number would have been 71 percent.
Seemingly, both players contributed to the Nationals’ baserunning success on Tuesday. However, Montero was the one who called out his teammate, even though he was just as much at fault for what happened.