Caught stealing

For meanings outside baseball, see Retail loss prevention.
A baserunner (at right) caught stealing

In baseball, a runner is charged, and the fielders involved are credited, with a time caught stealing when the runner attempts to advance or lead off from one base to another without the ball being batted and then is tagged out by a fielder while making the attempt. The runner is said to be caught stealing or thrown out. A time caught stealing cannot be charged to a batter-runner, a runner who is still advancing as the direct result of reaching base. In baseball statistics, caught stealing is denoted by CS.[1] It may be the result of a rundown.

Major League Baseball (MLB) began tracking caught stealing in 1951. The official MLB rules specify that a time caught stealing is charged when:

  • a runner, attempting a stolen base, is put out;
  • a runner is caught in a rundown play while stealing, and is tagged out; or
  • a runner, attempting a stolen base, is safe because a fielder is charged with an error on catching the ball, and in the judgment of the official scorer, the runner would have been out if the ball had been caught. (This official scoring is almost never made; an error is usually only charged if a bad throw or catch allows the runner to take an additional base, e.g., the runner attempts to steal second, the ball goes into the outfield, and the runner takes third as well. In such an instance the runner is credited with a steal of second, with the error accounting for the advance to third.)[2]

Rickey Henderson is the MLB all-time leader in getting caught stealing (335 times). The active leader is Elvis Andrus with 111 times caught.[3]

  1. ^ "Baseball Scorecard Abbreviations" (PDF). baseballscorecard.com. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  2. ^ "The Rules of Scoring; 10.00—The Official Scorer" (PDF). mlb.com. pp. 102–104. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  3. ^ "Active Leaders & Records for Caught Stealing". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 6 December 2022.