From the Handbook: Baserunning

We all know Byron Buxton is fast. We also know that speed alone does not equal outstanding baserunning.

But as Baseball Info Systems figures such things, Buxton was the best baserunner in baseball in 2017, at +55 bases.

The essay that preceeds the numbers notes that Buxton gained at least 27 bases from both basestealing and from "bases gained" -- for example, going first to third on a single or advancing on a wild pitch -- making him "the most balanced of the leaders."

Plus he grounded into just one double play. I'm not completely sold on BIS' inclusion of GIDP in the baserunning metrics, but I don't make the rules for them.

Joe Mauer has long been viewed -- accurately for the most part -- as an outstanding baserunner without outstanding speed. He has become visibly slower in the past few years (he is 34, after all) and in 2017 he scored a -7 in BIS's metric. For his career -- the Handbook contains career baserunning totals for players with 1,000 career games started in 2002) Mauer is +86, which isn't close to being the active leader but is certainly no embarrassment.