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MLB: The Top 15 Major League Baseball Base Stealers of All-Time

By Nicholas Ian Allen

June 8, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Yankees Ricky Henderson before the old timers game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
June 8, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Yankees Ricky Henderson before the old timers game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jun 15, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes (7) slides safely under Baltimore Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy (2) for a double during the fifth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Toronto Blue Jays defeats the Baltimore Orioles 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 15, 2014; Baltimore, MD, USA; Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Jose Reyes (7) slides safely under Baltimore Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy (2) for a double during the fifth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Toronto Blue Jays defeats the Baltimore Orioles 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports /

One of just two active players on our list, Jose Reyes still has plenty of time to climb up the ranks of the greatest base stealers of all-time. Through May 13, 2015, Reyes has 458 stolen bases, which ranks 50th all-time – the cutoff point for our database.

Because we dropped 25 players that didn’t have adequate caught stealing statistics, he ranks 25th among our qualifiers. He’s also third among active players behind Ichiro Suzuki and Carl Crawford.

458 Career SB

35.23 SB Per Season

80.5% Success Rate

51 SB Per 162 Games

52 Points

Reyes jumps into the top 15 because he has averaged a solid 35.23 stolen bases across 13 seasons (and that includes three steals in just 16 games this year). He has been successful in 80.5% of his attempts and ranks tenth among our qualifiers in both categories. Even better, Reyes has the seventh best 162-game average of those in our database with 51 steals.

Reyes has become one of the best base stealers of all-time despite his best seasons coming when stolen bases were rare. His most prolific seasons came from 2005 to 2008 when he averaged 64.5 thefts, led the National League three times and led the Majors with 64 in 2006 and 78 in 2007. Of course, those were also the years in which Reyes was caught the most: an average of 17 times per season including a Major League high of 21 in 2007.

Next: Maury Wills

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