MLB Speedsters: Who’s coming? Does it really matter?

JUPITER, FL - FEBRUARY 24: Washington Nationals outfielder Victor Robles (16) watches his pop fly that scored Wilmer Difo (1) after a Miami Marlins error during first inning action at Roger Dean Stadium. (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images) /

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Oakland A’s baseball player, left fielder Rickey Henderson, running between bases. (Photo by Mickey Pfleger/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images) /

After the Pioneer Who Couldn’t Play

After Washington, other speedsters like Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman toyed with Maury Wills’ stolen base record, an amazing 104 in 1962, when he did it. Of course, stealing bases – remember when baseball players did that? – is a matter of speed, quickness and perception, that last item involving more than one person sometimes. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.

After 1987, when Vince Coleman stole 109 bases, the stolen base in MLB baseball began its best imitation of the dodo. After that season, 75 or more bases were stolen only eight times, and four of those totals belong to Coleman and Henderson. No one after ’87 stole more than 93 bases, and Henderson did that in 1988. In the current decade, Dee Gordon’s MLB-leading 62 steals in 2014 is pretty much the gold standard.

Baseball went through its Steroid Era, but of course that doesn’t mean that speedsters weren’t valuable for defensive purposes after ’87.

And that brings us up to 2019 and the MLB Pipeline future top speedsters by team with this observation: 50, 60, or 100-yard or meter times aren’t that important in baseball. We now measure MLB player speed in feet per second, which makes sense since first base is only 90 feet away. See that quickness thing above.

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