Mariners' Josh Naylor Continues to Surprise Foes with Speed, Savvy on the Basepaths

The word should be out by now about Josh Naylor's prowess as a base stealer, yet the Mariners' first baseman somehow continues to surprise opposing pitcher-catcher batteries with his base-running prowess.

His bat coming around after a slow start to the season, Naylor has had more chances to run of late. At 5-foot-10 and a generous 235 pounds, Naylor has already stolen 21 bases in 25 tries this season. At this pace, Naylor could best his career best of 30 set last season while splitting time between the Dbacks and the Ms. He swiped 11 bags in his first 93 games of last season and then kept it going by stealing another 19 bases in 54 games after being traded to Seattle.

Naylor's 21 steals this season allowed him to become the first first baseman to steal 20 bases in a season in Mariners’ franchise history. Also, he became just the 19th first baseman with 20 steals in the American League in the Wild Card Era (since 1995).

Here's the truly shocking part of Naylor's success on the basepaths over the past two seasons. Over his first five seasons in the big leagues from 2021-25, he stole just 24 bases total.