In MLB’s pitch clock era, everybody’s a base stealer now

George Springer was never much of a base stealer. Even in his mid-20s, when he was a center fielder, perennial All-Star, and World Series MVP, Springer only once stole as many as 10 bases in a season. Twice, in his prime, he was caught stealing more times than he was successful.

Then, in 2023, MLB introduced the pitch clock.

Springer, at 33 years old and with an average sprint speed at its lowest mark in five years, suddenly started stealing bases at more than double his usual rate. That year, he stole 20 for the first time in his career. Then he stole 16 bases the next year, and 18 the year after that.

“Guys can time the clock,” Springer said. “Guys can time the pitcher.”

That’s base stealing in the Pitch Clock Era.

Since the 2023 rule changes meant to speed up the game on the mound, baseball has unmistakably turned back the clock on the bases. Stolen bases, once treated as a reckless relic of the uneducated past, are at levels not seen since the freewheeling 1980s. There were more stolen bases in 2024 than any season since 1916.

But the increase has not been fueled by the audacity of a few elite sprinters. The real surge is in the upper-middle class of baserunners who aren’t necessarily burners but have enough speed to take a bag, and have become more confident and comfortable running against a pitcher who’s up against the clock. The rule changes have not brought back the gaudy stolen bases totals of Lou Brock or Vince Coleman, but they have significantly increased the frequency with which runners break for second base, creating more double-digit base stealers than ever before in the live ball era.

Think Dave Henderson, not Rickey Henderson.

“When we were talking about it as an organization back in ’23, our fear was never the top-end baserunners,” Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Drew Rasmussen said. “They were going to steal their bases regardless. It was always the guys who would get their five or six. They might be more aggressive now and get into that 10 or 15 range just because now, advantage is tilted toward them.”

Four much-discussed rule changes were introduced in 2023: the pitch clock, a restriction on infield shifts, slightly larger bases, and a limit on disengagements (pitchers can step off or pickoff only twice in an at-bat; if they don’t get a runner out on a third pickoff attempt, the runner is awarded the next base).

In conversations with The Athletic, people in and around the game dismissed the larger bases as a factor in the stolen base surge and pointed to the pitch clock, more than the pickoff limits, as the best explanation for the increased thievery.

The clock, players say, shifted the sense of pressure and control. A runner’s timing used to be at the mercy of the pitcher, who could hold the ball and vary his delivery to build uncertainty. Now, the pitcher’s timing — and his attention — is at the mercy of the clock, and as those 18 seconds tick, pressure builds not on the runner, but on the pitcher, who becomes more predictable when working within such a limit. Base runners can better pick up on tendencies and time their jumps, replacing hesitancy with certainty as they decide whether to break for second base.

“With the clock and the restrictions on picks, guys just fall into patterns,” Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story said.  “I think that’s where you see the floor come up a little bit.”

Before the rule changes, Rasmussen was part of the problem, and he used that to his advantage. His 2022 season was, up to that point, the best of Rasmussen’s career, but at more than 24 seconds between pitches, he was also among the slowest pitchers in baseball, and he was happy to wait.

With a runner at first base. Rasmussen would get the sign from his catcher, come set on the rubber, and occasionally just stand there. He knew the hitter would call time out eventually, but in the meantime, he knew the baserunner was growing more anxious and less certain with every passing second.

“We’re going to make this guy over at first uncomfortable,” Rasmussen said.

With no pitch clock, baserunners had 647 chances to steal against Rasmussen in 2022, and 12 of them — 1.9 percent — attempted to run. Eight (66.7 percent) were successful. With the pitch clock in 2025, baserunners had 724 chances to steal against Rasmussen, and 23 of them — 3.2 percent — attempted to run. Seventeen (74 percent) were successful.

For a starter, giving up twice as many steals over the course of a season can make a meaningful difference in results.

“I think the pitch clock, from a fan experience, it’s been awesome,” Rasmussen said. “But when it comes to baserunning specifically, they’ve just taken away a pitchers’ ability to shut down the running game.”

The proof is in the data.

When Rasmussen and every other pitcher could hold the ball and pick off without restriction, players stole 2,486 stolen bases in 2022. When the pitch clock was introduced in 2023, stolen bases soared to 3,503. Steals per game still don’t quite match the high-water mark of 1987, but otherwise, the past three seasons look similar to the 1980s and early ‘90s in terms of frequency.

An untethered Ronald Acuña Jr. stole 73 bases in 2023, becoming the first player in 16 years — and the second in a quarter century — to swipe that many (Acuña’s previous high was 37), but 70-plus steals has not become the norm. Only one player since Acuña has stolen as many as 60, and last year no one stole 50.

More typical has been what happened to Springer who, at ages 33 to 35, had stolen base totals that would have at least matched his career-high before the rule changes were put into effect. Springer said health was a factor — his stolen bases had increased in 2022 as well — but he also acknowledged that the rule changes shifted the balance of power in the runners’ favor.

“I don’t think (pitchers) can control the stolen bases as much as they would like to,” Springer said. “There’s a clock now. Guys are concerned about the clock.”

Story, too, broke for second base at a higher rate in his mid-30s. Starling Marte’s sprint speed was by far the lowest it had ever been in 2023, but his stolen base rate matched the highest of his career. Freddie Freeman, at 33, stole a career-high 23 bases in 2023 while attempting to steal at twice his usual rate.

Since 2023, more players than ever before have reached double digit steals, and even when allowing for 1990s expansion, the rate of 10-steal seasons has been equal or greater than most seasons in the 1980s and up significantly from the previous two decades.

New York Yankees shortstop José Caballero last year led the Majors with 49 steals, a number that barely would have cracked the top 10 in 1985, but his Yankees teammate, Aaron Judge, was one of 101 players to steal at least 12 bases. There were only 81 such players in ’85. Juan Soto stole 38 bases last season despite modest speed. Cal Raleigh stole 14 as a big-bodied catcher. Josh Naylor stole 30, and he’s one of the slowest players in the league. Pitchers have been unable to keep them in check.

“There’s only so much time,” Story said. “And are they going to spend it thinking about the runners? It put a timeframe on where their attention span could go. Either you’re on the runner or you’re on the hitter. Without the time, you could manage both a little better.”

One player noted that advance scouts — now armed with more camera angles with which to analyze opposing pitchers — have gotten very good at picking up tendencies and tells, and runners can look for those cues while knowing more or less exactly when a pitcher has to make his decision about throwing a pitch or picking off. One advance scout noted that, despite the clock, pitchers today take a long time to come set, giving them even less time to hold the ball and make runners question their intention.

“Combined with the two-disengagement rule which eliminates frequent pickoffs, teams have a better idea of when a pitcher is going to the plate and more confidence that there won’t be a pickoff,” the scout said. “That’s why some teams/players use the early hop-jumps to steal bases. It’s a calculated risk.”

Even before a pitcher runs out of pickoff attempts, the pitch clock limits his options and gives runners a set time in which to watch for those tells and tendencies. The clock itself ticks against the pitcher while serving as a starting gun for the runner.

“They get more comfortable trying to time you up,” Rasmussen said. “If the pitch clock gets low, why not take a chance? If you look over and there are two or three seconds on the clock, why not get aggressive then? If the guy happens to pick over with one second left, tip your cap.”

Not only have the number of 10-steal players increased, but the trend is even more glaring for players with five or eight stolen bases (the past three seasons have had the most players ever to reach those thresholds). Raise the bar to 15 or 20 stolen bases and recent seasons no longer stand out. Push it to 30, and the past three seasons aren’t even in the top 10.

There could be a confluence of events helping fuel that brand of across-the-board thievery. There is a sense, though hard to quantify, that athleticism is improving throughout the game. It shows in the quality of outfield defense, and in the quantity of elite shortstops who can hit, field, throw, slug and run. Give those athletes improved scouting reports, and they would have been well-suited to take advantage of a looser baserunning environment.

That athleticism means that today’s blend of speed and power stands alone.

Since the rule changes, more than 40 percent of players who hit at least 20 home runs have also stolen at least 10 bases. That combination used to be closer to 30 percent or lower. Far fewer players are stealing 40 bases, but most 40-steal players since 2023 have also hit at least 20 home runs, a combination of elite speed and legit power that was once far more elusive

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“It’s not the same game it was when I was a rookie in 2019,” Rays outfielder Jake Fraley said. “We’re a perfect example of that. Teams are playing more small ball and trying to steal bases, not solely (relying) on having big thumpers in the lineup who put the ball over the fence.”

Fraley was with the Cincinnati Reds in 2023 and 2024 when they became the first team since the 1992-93 Montreal Expos to steal at least 190 bases in back-to-back seasons (the Reds had only 58 steals in 2022). In that case, the rule changes coincided with the arrival of Elly De La Cruz, an elite runner who was one of eight Reds to steal at least 10 bases in 2023. De La Cruz stole 67 in 2024, one of seven Reds with double-digit steals that season.

Now, Fraley is with the Rays, a notoriously analytical organization that’s finished first or second in the American League in stolen bases each of the past three seasons. Again, the rule changes have coincided with the arrival of a homegrown speedster, Chandler Simpson, who’s led the team in steals without being the only Ray to reach double digits.

There are signs of baseball settling into a new equilibrium. The stolen base rate decreased in 2025 and remains lower this season than in 2024. The caught stealing rate, meanwhile, has increased each of the four seasons since the new rules were put in place. One executive theorized that teams are doing a better job recognizing and eliminating their pitchers’ tells, while another guessed that caught stealing rate will continue to improve as teams focus slightly less on pitching framing — because of ABS — while putting more of a premium on catch-and-throw skills.

Undoubtedly, though, the game has changed, moving into uncharted territory that’s also a bit of a throwback. Games are, in fact, faster, but even the players who haven’t gained a bit of speed are stealing bases at a higher rate.

“I think guys have kind of become less concerned,” Springer said. “because (pitchers) have a lot of restrictions to what they can do.”

Stolen bases are back, and the clock is ticking.

With reports from The Athletic's Stephen J. Nesbitt and Mitch Bannon