Josh Naylor is the first @MLB<\/a> player with 10+ stolen bases in his first 12 games with a franchise since Billy Hamilton for the Cincinnati Reds from Sept. 3-25, 2013.<\/p>\n \u2014 Mariners PR (@MarinersPR) August 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n So, how has he done it? How has a big, slow first baseman managed to steal more bases this season than Duran, Shohei Ohtani, or Corbin Carroll? And how has he done being caught a single time in the past four months?<\/p>\n \u201cFor Josh, it\u2019s the intellectual part of the game,\u201d Cleveland Guardians\u2019 catcher Bo Naylor said.<\/p>\n Bo would know. He\u2019s Josh\u2019s little brother.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the pattern recognition and being able to take advantage of those things,\u201d Bo continued. \u201cYou compare him to someone who has just crazy speed, they can just trust their legs to do the work. To everyone who has the potential to steal bases, it just depends on whatever your ability is and making the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Naylor is stealing at a 92 percent rate this season. (Alika Jenner \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Naylor\u2019s ability is not raw speed. He\u2019s played seven seasons in the Majors, and this is the slowest he\u2019s ever been. The last time Naylor stole more than 10 bases in a season was 2016, when he was 19 years old in A ball. Even then, he stole only 11. But he has a lifelong eye for detail, having grown up watching baseball with his dad<\/a>, who preached situational awareness. Naylor\u2019s carried that into major league clubhouses.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has a good baserunning IQ, good instincts,\u201d Guardians first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. said. \u201cHe sees tendencies and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Naylor played the past five seasons with the Guardians. They rarely asked him to steal, Alomar said, because they had speedsters for that, and Naylor\u2019s job was to drive them in. But Naylor was 23-for-29 on stolen base attempts with the Guardians. His baserunning metrics weren\u2019t great, but they weren\u2019t awful, and more often than not, he could get a bag when a pitcher gave him an opening or a catcher gave him a chance.<\/p>\n \u201cI know what he looks like,\u201d former Guardians coach and current Boston Red Sox coach Kyle Hudson said. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t look like he would be athletic, but he\u2019s very athletic as well. When he first got traded over to us (from the San Diego Padres in 2020), I was like, \u2018This guy moves really well.\u2019 And you wouldn\u2019t expect him to. He\u2019s actually quick.\u201d<\/p>\n Traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks this winter, Naylor stole three bases in the first week and a half of this season. He was thrown out trying to steal home (in extra innings) on April 20, and was caught stealing again the next game, but Naylor hasn\u2019t been thrown out since, going 18-for-18 the past four months.<\/p>\n Josh Naylor tries to steal home.<\/p>\n Dbacks-Cubs series keeps getting weirder.@12SportsAZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/B5TClLARjK<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2228721262-scaled.jpg\")
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