Baseball America has a neat feature on baserunning and basestealing, which features Rangers prospect Cameron Coughlan.
Coughlan expounds at length about the science of stealing a base...
"There are really a lot of factors that go into when I run," says Coughlan, a second baseman/outfielder who was hitting .272 with a .383 on-base percentage for Double-A Frisco. "Some pitchers (take) 1.4 seconds to go home, they've got a big leg kick--I can run on those guys. But if the guy's got a slide step, and he's a 1.1 or a 1.2, then the catcher just has to be average, a 2.0 or so (to second), and I'm going to be out.
"I'm about 3.35 or 3.4 to second. If the catcher is exceptional, like (Mariners farmhand) Rene Rivera, and he's 1.8 to second, then I will probably be out even if the pitcher is a 1.4. The math doesn't work, and it really is very mathematical now."
Some pretty extensive stuff from Coughlan about his preparation and analysis of pitchers and catchers...
Neat article. Definitely worth checking out.