base stealers. He studied base runners to learn how they decide when and whether to attempt a steal and when they were less guarded against a pickoff. He practiced pickoff moves and coordinates signals with the first basemen to indicate when he is primed to move for a pickoff throw. Molina threw from behind left-handed batters to obfuscate the runner's view of his motion to first base. In 2012, a Sports Illustrated poll of 306 players found that Molina was the "toughest catcher to run on." An Arizona Diamondbacks official said team policy was not to run on Molina. Batting As the publication Viva El Birdos wrote, "Yadier Molina broke into the majors as a light-hitting defensive specialist", who hit mostly singles. Molina pushed to shed the light-hitter label he had in common with his brothers. A fidgeter with his batting stance early in his career, Molina mimicked and vacillated between more accomplished hitters such as Andrés Galarraga and Albert Pujols. However, it was a dip in his swing and an inability to get around on fastballs that sapped his efforts. Over time, with assistance of teammates such as Pujols, Molina found his comfortable stance, sounder mechanics and adopted a line-drive style of swing that eliminated the dip and helped him hit fastballs with more authority. Thus, he became a more consistent hitter as his career progressed, defying the scouting reports that he would have a weak bat. In combination with an improved his ability to pull the ball and hit it up the middle, he improved his batting average, batting .293 or higher in five of his last six seasons. His line-drive pull percentage of 2009–11 increased by about 6% in 2012–13; BABIP increased from .280 in 2005–10 to .327 in 2011–13 and pull weighted on-base average (wOBA) has increased from .290 in 2009 to over .520 in 2013. To keep his bat in the lineup but allow respite from the rigors of his in-game catching duties, Molina has occasionally started at first base. Aside from swinging with increased line-drive contact and hitting fastballs with more authority, very little has actually changed in the catcher's approach. One trait that has always persisted is that Molina is an aggressive and free-swinging — but high-contact — hitter. Through 2012, he swung at more than 51% percent of the pitches he saw — he has a reputation for swinging at pitches in