Miami Marlins' Xavier Edwards Emerges as Elite Baserunner in New Statcast Metric

Despite not joining the Miami Marlins' everyday lineup until midway through the season, shortstop Xavier Edwards ranked 11th across all of MLB in Baserunning Run Value in 2024.

Aug 8, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Marlins shortstop Xavier Edwards (63) steals second base against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at loanDepot Park. / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The Miami Marlins didn't have many bright spots throughout 2024, but Xavier Edwards managed to stand out in a big way.

Edwards, 25, finished the season batting .328 with an .820 OPS, both of which led the team amid their 62-100 campaign. But for as effective as he was with his bat, Edwards was even better on the basepaths.

Statcast unveiled several new metrics this week, publishing leaderboards for Base Stealing and Extra Bases Taken. Those have been combined into another newly-publicized figure – Baserunning Run Value.

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll led MLB with 12 Baserunning Runs this season, while Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals third baseman Mikael Garcia each posted eight.

Edwards wasn't far behind, finishing the year with six Baserunning Runs. He was listed at 11th on the leaderboard published by MLB.com, although he was technically tied for seventh alongside Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, Red Sox infielder David Hamilton, Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez.

The young Marlins infielder managed to rank that high despite ranking 124th across MLB with an average sprint speed of 28.4 feet per second, per Baseball Savant.

Edwards, who went 31-for-35 on stolen base attempts, recorded 12 doubles and five triples in 70 games of action. While he didn't join Miami's everyday lineup until Tim Anderson got dumped in July, Edwards racked up a 2.0 WAR on the season, ranking second among Marlins position players.

As a result of his standout production, Edwards was awarded a pre-arbitration bonus of $313K on Friday. That brought his total yearly earnings up to $918K for 2024, which marks a solid payday for a young infielder who is still under team control for five more seasons.

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