A steal’s audacity is typically measured in just one dimension—its risk.
Which is a shame. Because there’s more than one path to audacity; there’s room for a gutsy steal whose gutsiness does not come simply from a mathematical evaluation of its probability. There is room, for example, for what Andrelton Simmons did on Monday.
The details of the situation do not matter too much. (For those inclined: Simmons was the only runner on with one out, top of the third, Angels down 2-0 to the Astros.) What matters is this:
That is Framber Valdéz, who’d stepped off the mound and turned around to catch his breath.