Baseball in 2023 is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, because it’s the first year under the new rules. Stolen bases are up. Speed is in — and general managers are openly talking about how they’ve been trying to build their rosters to be a little more athletic, and a little faster.
Speed, by itself, won’t turn a losing team into a winning team. But come October, it’s not that hard to think of memorable examples where speed mattered, whether it’s one of the most famous stolen bases in the sport’s history (Dave Roberts in the 2004 ALCS) or Mookie Betts simply tearing it up around the bases in the 2020 World Series.
Let’s find some contenders on the bottom half of the running scale — and see if we can find some fits to help give them a boost.
