These are not the Mets led by Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan.
Or Roger Cedeno and Rickey Henderson.
Or Mookie Wilson and Wally Backman.
But what these Mets lack in great base stealers, they are more than making up for in great rule-followers.
The Mets have 14 stolen bases (in 15 attempts) through 11 games — tied for fourth in MLB and second in the National League — after needing 31 games to reach that mark last season.
The increase in stolen bases around baseball due to slightly bigger bags — decreasing the distance from one to another — and limitations on pickoff throws can benefit the clever as well as the quick.
“It’s not the distance of the bases as much as it is that they’ve taken away holding the baseball and the step-off [the mound],” manager Buck Showalter said. “That’s what stopped people from cheating the leads. So many more people are in play for stealing, especially when they throw over once … that weren’t in the past.”
Mark Canha, Tommy Pham and Jeff McNeil stole bases in Wednesday’s win against the Padres, upping the total to seven different Mets who have swiped bags.
That trio combines for 152 career steal in 2,213 games. All have more home runs than steals on their résumés.
Starling Marte, who matched his career high with 47 steals in 2021, already has four.
If there is a rule that his peers might not yet fully understand, Showalter is going to look to exploit it.
Pitchers can only disengage with the rubber — pickoff attempt, fake pickoff or stepping off the mound — two times per plate appearance before a balk is enforced on the third time if the pickoff is unsuccessful.
Only one of the first 21 teams managed by Showalter — the 1999 Diamondbacks — ranked among MLB’s top 10 in stolen bases in a given year.
In fact, Showalter’s Yankees ranked last in steals twice (1992 and 1995) and his Orioles ranked last five times in nine years, including a four-year stretch of least mobility (2014-17).
The 2022 Mets stole 62 bases — eighth-fewest in MLB — at a 74 percent success rate.
But Showalter is changing his stripes with the run game.
“There are whole different dynamics,” Showalter said. “It will be interesting to see once we start getting a bigger sampling about when guys go and don’t go. I have a sneaking suspicion about what it’s going to show.”
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