StaTuesday: Stolen bases a team effort for Brewers
The Brewers are stealing bases at a rate rarely seen in Milwaukee, and in fact are on pace to be second-best at base thievery in franchise history.
Milwaukee leads the major leagues in steals with 120 and on its current pace would finish the season with 177 stolen bases, which would just edge the 1987 Brewers (176) but still fall well behind the 1992 team (256). This edition of the Brewers needs just 39 steals for the most in a season since the team moved over to the National League in 1998. The Brewers have stolen more than 120 bases in a season just three times as an NL entity: 2004 (138), 2012 (158) and 2013 (142) and had only two other occasions with 100+ steals -- 2008 (108) and 2014 (102).
The Brewers have relied heavily on two players to rack up the steals in 2016. Jonathan Villar is close to becoming just the fourth player in franchise history (third if you don't want to include the Seattle Pilots) to amass 50 steals in a season while Hernan Perez has stolen 20 bases in 73 games after swiping only six in his previous 156 major-league games.
However, others are doing damage on the basepaths as well. Ryan Braun has 13 steals and Keon Broxton 11 (in just 42 games). Kirk Nieuwenhuis (8) and Scooter Gennett (7) are also both close to hitting double digits. If both can reach 10 steals, it would mark just the sixth time in franchise history the Brewers have had six players with 10+ steals and the first time since 1992, when an incredible 11 players did it. Since moving to the National League, Milwaukee has had five players steal 10+ bases in a season just once, in 2012 (Carlos Gomez 37, Ryan Braun 30, Nori Aoki 30, Rickie Weeks 16, Nyjer Morgan 12).
| Year | 10+ | 20+ | 30+ | 40+ |
| 1969 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1970 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1971 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1972 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1973 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1974 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1975 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1976 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1977 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1978 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1979 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1980 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 1981* | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1982 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1983 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1984 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1986 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 1988 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 1989 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1991 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 1993 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1994** | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1996 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1997 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1998 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1999 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2000 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2002 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2003 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2004 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2005 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2008 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2009 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2010 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2012 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2013 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 2014 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2015 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
* - Strike season, played only 109 games
** - Lockout season, played only 115 games
The Brewers could make it seven in double-digit steals this season if Orlando Arcia gets running. The rookie shortstop had 15 steals in 100 games for Colorado Springs this year, swiped 25 bags in 129 games at Double-A Biloxi in 2015 and stole 31 bases in 2014 at Single-A Brevard County.
As mentioned above, Milwaukee had had five other occasions with six or more players with 10+ stolen bases in a season. Here are those five, including the improbable running Brewers of 1992.
1980: Paul Molitor 34, Robin Yount 20, Cecil Cooper 17, Jim Ganter 11, Ben Oglivie 11, Charlie Moore (who just played catcher that season) 10.
1987: Molitor 45, Mike Felder 34, Yount 19, Juan Castillo 15, Rob Deer 12, Glenn Braggs 12, B.J. Surhoff (his rookie year, played 98 games at catcher) 11.
1989: Molitor 27, Felder 26, Gantner 20, Yount 19, Braggs 17, Surhoff (106 games at catcher) 14, Bill Spiers 10, Gary Sheffield 10.
1990: Sheffield 25, Felder 20, Surhoff (125 games at catcher) 18, Gantner 18, Molitor 18, Yount 15, Spiers 11, Darryl Hamilton 10.
1992: Pat Listach 54 (the Rookie of the Year set his career high in steals), Hamilton 41 (was his career high with the next best 21 in 1993), Molitor 31 (at 35 years old; one of 25 times since 1986 that a 35-year-old has had 31+ SBs in a season), Dante Bichette 18, Scott Fletcher 17 (set a career high at 33 years old; he had 0 steals in 1991 and 3 combined over the previous three seasons), Greg Vaughn 15 (his career high, which also did in 1999), Yount 15 (at 36 years old, his second-to-last season), Surhoff 14 (109 games at catcher), Kevin Seitzer 13, Franklin Stubbs 11, John Jaha 10 (in 47 games).
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players From the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
