Stolen base percentage is a
statistic
A statistic (singular) or sample statistic is any quantity computed from values in a sample which is considered for a statistical purpose. Statistical purposes include estimating a population parameter, describing a sample, or evaluating a hy ...
used in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
.
A player's
stolen base percentage (a.k.a. SB%) measures his rate of success in stealing bases. Because stolen bases tend to help a team less than times caught stealing hurt, a player needs to have a high stolen base percentage in order to contribute much value to his team. A commonly used figure is that a player needs to succeed about 2/3 of the time to break even.
With 300 minimum career attempts,
Carlos Beltrán currently holds the record for highest Stolen base percentage in the
Major Leagues, with .864, with
Tim Raines
Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959), nicknamed "Rock",Raines received this nickname at an Expo rookie camp when he was seventeen, based on his physique. is an American professional baseball coach and former player. He played as a left ...
in second, with .847.
developed a statistic related to stolen base percentage called "Stolen Base Runs" or SBR.
(.3 x Stolen Bases) - (.6 x Caught Stealing)
This Total Baseball statistic is aimed at quantifying base-stealing. Numerous statistical studies done by Total Baseball have shown that the break even success rate for steals (the rate at which an attempt to steal is neither helping nor hurting the team in terms of total runs scored) is about 67%. Each successful steal adds approximately .3 runs to a team's total runs scored which is much less than often believed. Therefore, the statistic is meant to estimate the impact of base-stealers, which, other than the elite base-stealers, rarely amounts to more than a few runs per year for each team.
See also
*
List of Major League Baseball stolen base records
This article lists records for stolen bases within Major League Baseball (MLB). For individual players, leaders in stolen bases for a career, single season, and single game are provided, along with leaders in stolen base percentage for a single ...
- includes career and season records for stolen base percentage
References
External links
Baseball-Almanac.com
Baseball terminology
Baserunning statistics
Percentages
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