TORONTO – Mitch Garver remembers the moment pretty well. Late May of 2022. Texas vs. Tampa Bay. Bottom of the fifth inning. Francisco Mejia behind the plate. Garver needed a little jogging of the memory, but Matt Wisler was the pitcher.
“He has a slow delivery. It’s all breaking balls,” Garver recalled.
Before this season, the last time Garver successfully stole a base came on that May 30, 2022 game as a member Rangers against the Rays. And that streak of nearly three calendar years came to an end earlier this month when Garver took the third bag of his career in a game against Houston.
“I’ll just speak on behalf of myself, that was a big situation in the game where the guy was 1.8 (seconds) to home plate. He throws a bunch of splitters. Left-handed hitter up. It was a tie game, so I knew the situation was just calling for it,” Garver said. “The guy’s a 1.8, those are the bags I can get – 1.6 to 1.8.”
Garver ended up turning the stolen base into a game-tying run and while the moment is very specific to an unlikely base stealer, it also speaks to a larger emphasis by the Mariners during the first month of the season.
When there is 90 feet to take, either via a stolen base or trying to take an extra base, the M’s are going to do it. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But aggression on the bases seems like it’ll be a hallmark of this team.
“I don’t think it’s any kind of a goal. I think we’re just looking to be aggressive and take opportunities that we could get to move up 90 feet,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “That’s something we talked about a lot in spring training, which was finding 90 feet and then preventing 90 feet. And I think the guys have been really good at that all season long.”
Following Sunday’s win in Toronto, the M’s lead the American League and are second in baseball in stolen bases with 32. Randy Arozarena leads the team with six, with Dylan Moore and Julio Rodríguez each having five.
But seemingly everyone sans maybe Donovan Solano and Rowdy Tellez, who was thrown out at third on Friday night trying to tag up on a fly ball to right field, are true threats to run. Garver got his first bag in three years. Cal Raleigh already has three, halfway to his season total of six from last year.
In total, 12 different players on the roster have at least one stolen base and the 32 total steals are the most in the first 22 games in franchise history.
By comparison, the M’s had just 12 stolen bases in the first 22 games last season.
Being aggressive and taking bases when possible is clearly part of the way the Mariners want to play. While it has happened on occasion thus far, this roster isn’t constructed where it should be expected that the lineup can regularly string together four of five hits in a row to create run scoring opportunities.
If someone gets to first base, getting that next 90 feet can by crucial.
“I think pitching is that much better. It’s just harder to come by those big innings, right? So, anytime you can just score one run or get a runner in scoring position, it gives you an opportunity to just scratch one off the board,” said Garver, who also brings the perspective as a catcher. “Pitching is tough. Pitchers in general are becoming a little less attentive to runners. Not sure there’s going to be guys that are going to steal 20 and 30 each year. Those guys, the burners, they’re always going to steal their bags. But it’s the difference makers, guys that can get five to 10, sometimes those runs are really important.”
Part of Seattle’s increased aggression can be attributed to new first base coach Eric Young Jr., who spent last season as the M’s minor league baserunning coordinator, but overall is in his fourth different season with the organization. As part of the changes to Wilson’s coaching staff last offseason, Young was brought to the Mariners bench.
“He’s very receptive to what we want. He has good insight into pitchers, moves, pop times, what to look for,” Moore said. “He was a good base stealer in his day as well so that helps. Just trying to soak in as much knowledge as I can.”
To Moore’s point, Young stole 162 bases in his career and led the National League with 46 stolen bases in 2013. He’s constantly in the ear of his runners when they reach first base and always with the stopwatch in his hand, checking how long it’s taking the pitcher to deliver to home plate.
“The guys really, they’ve made it more easy for me. They’re very attentive. Their willingness to be aggressive and their focus has paid off so far,” Young said. “Still got a long way to go, but all the credit to them for actually taking information and trying to translate it.”
The aggressiveness the M’s want to have on the bases can sometimes backfire as evidenced by Friday’s loss to Toronto when they made four outs on the bases – albeit only one of those was a stolen base attempt. While they may be second in the league in steals, they also lead the league in times caught stealing with 10.
Despite that, don’t expect the running to stop anytime soon.
“[Young] is so good over there at finding the little things and picking up the nuances and helping them get the jumps that they need and the guys have really responded,” Wilson said. “They’re taking their opportunities and making the best of them and it’s putting us in good positions.”
Seattle Times reporter Adam Jude contributed to this report.