"Baseball Prospectus" estimated in 2013 that Molina saved 35 defensive runs per season through his pitch framing and had moved 301 out-of-zone pitches that were called strikes between April 1 and June 30, 2013. As of July 2013, Molina had also thrown out 45% of would-be base stealers. At one time, an Arizona Diamondbacks official stated a team policy existed not to run on Molina. With pickoffs, Molina throws from behind left-handed batters to obfuscate the runner's view of his motion to first base. Besides studying hitters at the plate, Molina also studies base runners to watch their decision-making process about stealing bases or when they are less guarded against a pickoff. He practices pickoff moves and coordinates signals with the first basemen to indicate when he is primed to move for a pickoff throw. In 2012, a "Sports Illustrated" poll of 306 players found that Molina was the "toughest catcher to run on."