New York Mets Allowing Stolen Bases at Record Pace

One of the New York Mets' biggest weaknesses was thoroughly exploited on Sunday.

In a brutal 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in 10 innings, the Mets had Rays baserunners running wild all game long; Tampa Bay swiped seven bases and only got caught once, which consistently granted them critical RISP opportunities. Starting catcher Omar Narvaez allowed the first three steals, while Tomas Nido would allow the next four after entering the game in the sixth inning as a pinch hitter. Jose Caballero had four of the Rays' steals.

Unfortunately, this game was not an outlier for the Mets; instead, it continues a trend of the team's pitchers and catchers being completely unable to control the opposing team's running game.

When Nido threw out Amed Rosario at second in the bottom of the seventh inning, it was just the third runner caught stealing by a Mets catcher all season long. Nido has all three caught stealings, but he has allowed 12 stolen bases for an opposing success rate of 80%. Narvaez has been even worse, as he's allowed 30 stolen bases without catching anybody. He was just as bad at throwing out baserunners last year, as he allowed 40 steals in 46 attempts for a 92% opposing success rate. Even the injured Francisco Alvarez has been poor at throwing out base stealers, as all 10 base stealers against him were successful prior to suffering a left thumb sprain.

These three catchers have combined for some truly ghastly numbers on the basepaths: the Mets have allowed a grand total of 52 stolen bases in 55 attempts, an opposing success rate of 94.5%. It's only May 5.

Since 1956, the most stolen bases allowed by a team in a season is 223, held by the 2001 Boston Red Sox. Their opposing success rate was 81.3%, a full 13.2% lower than the Mets' current rate.

With this stunning amount of both efficiency and volume by opposing baserunners, the Mets are constantly having to strand runners in scoring position, which is contributing heavily to the 148 runs they've allowed so far. They now are below .500 with a 16-18 record, although just one game back of the third Wild Card position. If the Mets have any hopes of keeping pace with the teams ahead of them in the playoff hunt, they need their catchers to do a much better job at limiting the opposition's baserunning threats.