Statistical Spotlight: Analyzing Juan Soto’s Stolen Base Numbers

Juan Soto had a productive first year with the New York Mets.

He received an A-minus on our report card earlier this offseason. He also led the entire league in walks with 127 and the NL in on-base percentage at .396. Additionally, he had a career-high 43 home runs and the second-highest mark in runs scored for his career with 120. Those were really great signs from the club’s new superstar; however, this spotlight is going to focus on a surprise statistic: stolen bases.

In the first eight years of Soto’s career, he had only broken the double-digit mark in steals twice, and just barely did so with 12 in both 2019 and 2023. His next highest after that was nine in 2021. During the 2024 campaign with the New York Yankees, Soto had just seven steals in 157 games.

In 2025, though, Soto swiped 38 bags! That number was so impressive, in fact, that he tied for the NL lead and was tied for the fourth-most in MLB. This was a truly remarkable season for Soto in terms of this statistic, especially given his advanced running metrics.

According to Baseball Savant, Soto ranked in the 13th percentile for sprint speed. The MLB average was 27 feet per second, and Soto’s was 25.8 feet. This placed him 507th on the leaderboard. In comparison, Trea Turner, who led the league in this statistic, had an average sprint speed of 30.3 feet per second. This leads to the question: how did Soto tie for the NL lead in steals while being one of the slowest runners in the majors?

Much of Soto’s stolen base success can be linked to former Mets first base coach Antoan Richardson.

In a postgame interview on September 9, after stealing his 30th base, Soto said, “Antoan did an unbelievable job. He’s been helping me since day one. I give him all the credit.” He further stated, “He’s the one who put me in this situation and this spot to do what I’ve done.”

Many Mets praised Richardson’s preparation as well as his philosophy, which blended aggressiveness with smarter execution of stealing, which ultimately made the Mets’ base-running more efficient. Unfortunately, the Mets and Richardson have not been able to meet in the middle on a new contract this offseason.

While the Mets and Richardson are parting ways, it will be hard to replace what he brings to the table. Hopefully, enough of Richardson’s teaching has been deeply rooted to make a lasting impact on Soto’s game. He was just two stolen bases shy of a 40-40 season, and it will be great to see him build upon this stellar success for 2026.

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