Speedway Classic: Fastest Players in MLB By Sprint Speed
We're, of course, talking about the fastest players in Major League Baseball, a few of whom will play in Saturday's Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway.
There are a number of ways to determine a player's speed, from counting their steals to looking at their 90-foot splits. For this exercise, we're looking at the fastest players in MLB by their sprint speed, as defined by Baseball Savant. Let's get into it.
We'd be remiss not to acknowledge one of the quickest players in the Speedway Classic, Elly De La Cruz.
He was born to play in this event as one of the most aggressive base runners in the league. Since making his debut in 2023, nobody has more stolen bases than him (131) and he's tied for fifth in stolen bags this year with 29.
In his 2024 season, he swiped the most bags in the majors with 67. Surprisingly, Cruz is in the 91st percentile in sprint speed with 29.1. Two seasons before, he was Top 3 in that statistic.
Anytime there's a debate about the fastest player in MLB, Witt's name is always going to be in the discussion, and for good reason.
Witt is a threat anytime he puts the ball in play. Since making his debut in 2022, his 31 triples are tied for second in that time span, and his 137 stolen bases are the most by any player in that same timeframe.
This season, his sprint speed is 30.3 ft/sec, which puts him in the top spot. His home to first speed has never been higher than 4.14, which also ranks him at the top percentile of the league. Witt is the true definition of a five-tool player.
In his 11th season, Trea Turner is still one of the fastest players in MLB. The 32-year-old is third among active players in stolen bases with 304, despite playing 265 fewer games than Starling Marte, who is the leader at 359.
Turner has led the National League in stolen bases twice in his career: in 2018 with 43 and 2021 with 32. When he's not leading the league, he's hovering around the Top 10.
Byron Buxton's 11-year career has been shortened due to nagging injuries, causing him to miss over 900 games. When he does get on the diamond, though, Buxton is undoubtedly one of the fastest players in the league.
The 2015 No. 2 pick had a 60-yard dash time between 6.4-6.6. Buxton has 110 career stolen bases and has only been caught 12 times in his career.
It didn't take long for Victor Scott II to make this speed known to the rest of MLB. In his first full season, Scott is fourth in the NL in stolen bases with 26 and has only been caught twice. He has one of the fastest home to first times with 4.13.
The Phillies are well-represented on this list, as the 24-year-old speedster is Philadelphia's second player on this list. Rojas is one of five players in MLB this season to have a sprint speed above 30, and he has 30 bolts on the season.
Simpson has been in the majors for 62 games and is already third in the entre league with 32 stolen bases. His speed is so electric he routinely beats out ground balls with his 3.95 home-to-first time. He's the only player with a time under four seconds.
Any time Simpson is on base and a ball gets through the infield, there's a good chance he'll be sliding into home, if not standing up. He currently ranks sixth in sprint speed at 29.9. Soon he'll join the 30 club.
White might not be the Braves player you were expecting to see on this list, but the stats back up that he's the fastest player on the team. The 31-year-old ranks higher than his outfield teammates, Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr., with a sprint speed of 29.9.
Anything in the gap can easily be a triple for Corbin Carroll. Since making his debut in 2022, he leads the majors in triples with 39. He's also eighth in stolen bases with 104 during that time span.
In the 2024 season, Carroll circled the bases in 14.30 seconds for an inside-the-park homer, one of the fastest times since being tracked by Statcast. His first-to-home time, 4.12, is one of the fastest in the league, and he's just outside the top 10 in sprint speed with 29.7.
You might not think of Peña as this blazer on the base paths, but his sprint speed is among the highest in the majors. His 29.6 puts him in the 97th percentile of MLB players. He's another player that made his debut in 2022 and, since then, has been in the top 10 in sprint speed each season.
Armstrong was a superstar in the making, and he's taken his game to another level this year, putting himself in the MVP conversation. One thing that helped take his game to the next level is his elite speed.
PCA ranks in the top 10 in all base running categories; his 29 stolen bases rank fifth in the majors. Armstrong blazed around the bases in just 14.10 secs for an inside-the-park homer in 2024, the fastest time recorded in 2024.
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