A few rule changes this past offseason have sent stolen base numbers through the roof in 2023.
The San Francisco Giants have not been eager to take advantage of the opportunity.
Through 127 games, San Francisco ranks dead last in the league in stolen bases with 47. Only one Giant has stolen more than four bases on the season – second baseman Thairo Estrada, who has 19.
Estrada stole his 19th base of the year Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.
That was the Giants' first stolen base attempt – successful or otherwise – since July 22, meaning the entire club went a full month between even trying to swipe an extra bag.
According to Baseball Reference, the 27-game streak the Giants strung together without attempting a stolen base was the second-longest in MLB history. The only streak that went longer was when the Cleveland Indians went 28 games in a row without attempting a stolen base in 1962.
The fact that the Giants' streak came in 2023 is especially odd, considering MLB introduced limited pickoff attempts, bigger bases and shift restrictions with the goal of increasing stolen base attempts.
Most other teams took the hint.
In an analysis of the impact of the rule changes distributed to the media at the All-Star Game, MLB revealed that stolen base attempts were up 50% over 2022, while stolen base percentage was up 4% year-over-year.
San Francisco ranks 20th in the league with a 78.3% success rate when they do try to steal, which is down from the team's 80.0% rate in 2022. Manager Gabe Kapler is calling for fewer steals as well, dropping his mark from 0.49 per game last year to 0.47 this season.
Ironically, Estrada's stolen base in the seventh inning Wednesday got him into scoring position, and he crossed home three at-bats later. That gave the Giants an insurance run it turned out they needed to pull out an extra-inning victory.
San Francisco blew a 5-2 lead in the ninth when closer Camilo Doval gave up a three-run home run to designated hitter Bryce Harper. In the 10th inning, though, the visitors got those three runs back, including one on a sacrifice fly by Estrada.
Despite the win Wednesday, the Giants have still lost five of their last seven games to drop out of the NL playoff picture. At 66-61, San Francisco is 0.5 games back of the final NL Wild Card spot, ranking fifth out of the six teams competing for the three bonus berths.
The Giants open a series with the Atlanta Braves on Friday. First pitch from Oracle Park is scheduled for 10:15 p.m. ET.
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