Five Slowest Active Base Runners to Steal a Base

Editor's note: The Statcast Era began in 2015, with detailed sprint speed metrics as part of the analysis provided. This list is ordered in terms of sprint speed, with #1 being the slowest active player to steal a base. 

After Rowdy Tellez stole second during the Mariners game on Tuesday, fans took to the internet to discuss the oddity. After all, how often do runners as slow as Tellez steal bases? Very rarely, that’s for sure. 

When I saw the attention on Tellez, I was inspired to put together this list. I used the most recent stolen base of each player's career for simplicity, although there weren’t that many to browse through given their speed, or lack thereof. It's always fun to discuss unique baseball tidbits, and these players are the slowest of the slowest.

(15 slowest active runners via baseballsavant.com)

Without further ado, here are the five slowest active runners to steal a base in the Statcast Era: 

5. Triston Casas - September 13, 2022 (watch here) 

The seventh slowest active player, Triston Casas runs at a measly 24.7 ft/sec mark. It’s no surprise he’s been held to once stolen base in his career, which came during his debut season in 2022 in a September game against the Yankees. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning of a 3-2 game, Casas took off for second after reaching on a walk. Gerrit Cole delivered a fastball to Reese McGuire who waved his bat at the outside pitch, in turn causing Jose Trevino to make an errant throw. Casas slid in safely, with the first and only stolen base of his career. 

4. Jose Trevino - August 16, 2024 (watch here)

 

Jose Trevino is slow, even for a catcher, ranking as the sixth slowest active player with a 24.7 ft/sec sprint speed. He’s managed to steal four bags throughout his career, which leads most of his counterparts on this list. His most recent swipe came in August of 2024 against the Tigers.

In the top half of the second in a game led 1-0 by the Yankees, Trevino ran on the first pitch to eight-hitter DJ Lemahieu. Brenan Haniffe delivered a fastball to Lemahieu and Jake Rogers popped quickly behind the plate, but Lemahieu stumbled into Rogers' throwing lane after swinging and missing. The throw sailed high, and Trevino slid in safely to second base. 

3. Rowdy Tellez - June 17, 2025 (watch here)

Ranking as the fifth slowest active base runner, Tellez sprints at a 24.6 ft/sec mark. With his stolen base on Tuesday night against the Red Sox, Tellez reached five stolen bases on his career, giving him the lead among those on this list.

In an 0-1 count in the bottom of the second to Ben Williamson, Tellez took off for second. He managed to slide in safely, even with an on-target throw from Carlos Narváez; however, his slide was anything but safe. Tellez’s back foot got caught on the bag, and for a moment it looked like he may have been hurt. Luckily he was okay, and we can all laugh about his less-than-graceful slide.

2. Martín Maldonado -  August 16, 2020 (watch here) 

Maldonado sprints at 24.3 ft/sec, placing him in the second slowest active runner position in MLB. He’s managed to swipe three bags in his career, which is impressive given his outlier lack of speed. 

His most recent stolen base came in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, in a game against division rival Seattle. In the bottom of the fourth with Justus Sheffield on the mound, Maldonado ran with two outs. He reached second safely, going into a standup feet-first slide after beating Austin Nola’s on-target throw. With that being his last stolen base, it’s safe to say Maldonado’s much better at preventing base stealing than participating. 

1. Jacob Stallings - October 1, 2016 (watch here 9:12-9:20) 

Not known for his legs, Jacob Stallings is MLB's slowest active base runner, with a 24.1 ft/sec sprint speed. As a result, he’s only accumulated one stolen base throughout his career. 

That lone stolen base came off of one of the best throwing catchers of all time: Yadier Molina. Stallings ran in the top of the ninth with two outs on a Seunghwan Oh low and away fastball. No throw from Molina allowed Stallings to come into second standing, giving the Pirates runners on second and third in a 4-3 game.  While some might consider it a defensive indifference, the stat books gave Stallings a stolen base, the first and only of his career. 

(Statistics found in baseball-reference.com, baseballsavant.com, mlb.com, fangraphs.com)

(Video found in mlb.com)

Cover photo credit: John Lott via Flickr