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Could the Seattle Mariners steal more bases in 2022?

By Curtis Christianson

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 10: J.P. Crawford #3 of the Seattle Mariners steals second base against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning of the game at Target Field on April 10, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Mariners defeated the Twins 4-3 in ten innings. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 10: J.P. Crawford #3 of the Seattle Mariners steals second base against the Minnesota Twins during the eighth inning of the game at Target Field on April 10, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Mariners defeated the Twins 4-3 in ten innings. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images) /
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Now that Spring Training is here and the hot stove is hot, the Seattle Mariners are looking on paper to be a very good team again this year. They have built up a strong core of young players with a mix of strong veterans who aren’t too old. One question about this team could be how many bases will this team steal? Last season the M’s stole 64 bases as a team, and is it possible for that number to go up?

Looking at the Mariners roster last season, it seemed like they should have stolen more bases than they did. Even though 64 sounds like a good number of steals, it was only good enough to rank 9th in the American League. That is nearly a bottom third team in steals, and I think that the Mariners can and should steal more bases in 2022. I believe that there are some players who should steal more, and I hope some other players who are new can steal bags as well.

The Mariners are primed to steal more bases in 2022

First of all, Dylan Moore was the team’s best-stolen base threat with 21 stolen bases. Moore played in a career-high 121 games, and ideally, he won’t play that much this year. The hope is he comes off the bench and can be a stolen base threat. If he can have 20 stolen bases as a part-time player and does not start as often, that will be key for the Mariners.

Besides Moore, Jake Fraley was the only player who had double-digit steals last year, at 10. Now that Fraley has been traded, the Mariners have only one returning player from 2021 who had more than 6 steals. The Mariners had several players who had a few steals, but I want to see those players steal more.

Jarred Kelenic, J.P. Crawford, and Abraham Toro had a combined 12 steals last season. Kelenic had 6, and the other two had 3 each. I want to see Crawford have 10 steals this year, and I hope that Toro gets some more chances as well. I hope that in a full season, Kelenic can have 10-15 steals for the Mariners as well.

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Finally, there are two players that will be new to the roster that I hope to see steal more bases for the Mariners in 2022. Those two players are Adam Frazier and Julio Rodriguez. Last season, Frazier had 10 steals between the Pirates and Padres, and Rodriguez seems to be adding speed in his young age. I hope that these two players have 10 steals each or more and that the Mariners steal more bases in 2022.

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