Baseball's Top 5 Base Stealers Since 2000
Ranking the Top 5 Base Stealers in Baseball since 2000
Base Stealing
The ability to steal bases can give an MLB team a decisive advantage over their opponent. It can be used to advance runners into scoring position or as a threat to distract the opposing team’s pitcher. The best base stealers succeed around 4 out 5 times. There have been many great base stealers in MLB history. Ricky Henderson is considered the greatest of all-time with 1406 stolen bases. However, as time changes the tendency for coaches to send runners changes as well. For the point of this article, we will be examining players from 2000 onward to determine who the best base stealer has been.
5. Jimmy Rollins
During his entire career, Jimmy Rollins never led the league in stolen bases. He is best known for his bat rather than his ability on the base path. His bat won him the national league MVP award in 2007. However, Rollins’ consistent ability to steal bases earns him the fifth spot on this list. Rollins has stolen 20+ bases in thirteen seasons. He is currently 50th on the MLB all-time stolen base list with 462. Rollins career stolen base success rate is 82%, which ties him with Carl Crawford for the highest on this list.
4. Jose Reyes
Jose Reyes is the only player other than Michael Bourn to lead the national league in stolen bases in three consecutive years during this time span. Jose Reyes was a dominant base stealer for the Mets between 2005-2007. He stole a total of 202 bases in that three-year span for an average of 67.3 stolen bases per year. Jose Reyes stolen bases declined in the years that followed, but his dominance on the base path for those three years is what gets Jose Reyes the number four spot on this list. Jose Reyes is currently tied for 43rd on the MLB all-time steals list with 473 stolen bases. Jose Reyes career success rate for stolen bases is 81%. Reyes is ahead of Rollins because of his ability to steal more bases at a younger age than Rollins.
3. Carl Crawford
During this timespan, Crawford led the AL in stolen bases four times (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007). Crawford has had seven seasons, in which he has stolen 45+ bases. Crawford is currently 45th on the MLB all-time steals list with 472 only one behind Jose Reyes. Crawford career success rate for stolen bases is 82%. When it comes to ranking Reyes and Crawford on this list it is a virtual tie, but somebody needs to win and we give the nod to Crawford because of his slightly higher success rate.
2. Juan Pierre
Pierre’s consistent dominance on the base path is what earns him the number two spot on this list. Juan Pierre has stolen 614 bases in his MLB career, which puts him 18th on the MLB all-time steals list. Pierre led the league in stolen bases in 2003 and 2010. His career success rate for stolen bases is 75%. This rate may be worse than other members of this list, but Pierre has attempted to steal 230 more times than Reyes (third most attempts on this list behind Pierre and Ichiro). Many of Pierre’s attempts have come in the later years of his career. While other guys have pulled back on their stolen base attempts as they age, Pierre continued to go for second.
1. Ichiro Suzuki
Ichiro led the league in stolen bases during his rookie year. It was a part of a dominant rookie campaign that saw Ichiro win Rookie of the Year and MVP. Ichiro was twenty-seven years old during his rookie year. He had previously played all of his professional baseball in Japan. Ichiro has 496 career-stolen bases. This puts Ichiro 38th on the all-time list. His career stolen base success rate is 81%. Ichiro neither has the most stolen bases on this list nor the highest success rate so what makes Ichiro #1. It’s the fact that he has stolen almost 500 bases in his career while not playing in the MLB until he was 27. While a lot of guys stole fewer bases, as they got older, like Pierre, Ichiro kept stealing. Ichiro has 13 MLB seasons of 20+ stolen bases, which is amazing considering that they all came after his 27th birthday. Imagine how many stolen bases Ichiro could have had if he had spent 7of fastest years in the MLB rather than Japan. He stole 196 bases in Japan during these years. If you add Ichiro’s 196 stolen bases to his current total, he would be 6th on the MLB career stolen bases list. That’s why Ichiro is the number #1 base stealer since 2000.
What do you think? Who is number 1? If you want comment, drop me a line, swing by my site http://the-topic.sportsblog.com/ or follow me on Twitter @The_Topic321 https://twitter.com/The_Topic321, and keep coming to The Daily Whiff for your sports news.
Caelum Maloney is a lead sportswriter for The Topic
Follow Caelum on twitter - @The_Topic321