The excellence of Shohei Ohtani in 2024 could be summed up in one sentence: he couldn't pitch, so he decided to steal nearly 60 bases.
The Japanese supserstar finished the season with a .310 batting averagge, 54 home runs, 130 RBI and 59 stolen bases, en route to his third MVP. Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to post a 50-50 season.
Ohtani has flashed a little bit of speed throughout his career, but it isn't a coincidence that he recorded 59 stolen bases this season to shatter his previous high of 26. The former and future MVP evidently made a conscious effort to wreak havoc on the basepaths, and the uptick in steals can't just be attributed to MLB rule changes — he only stole 20 bases in 2023, when the changes were implemented.
In 2025, Ohtani took a step back on the basepaths, not getting anywhere close to his 2024 total. But, he set a career high in triples.
Just how fast is Ohtani? Here's the data on his speed and how it stacks up against MLB's fastest players.
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How fast is Shohei Ohtani?
Ohtani averaged a sprint speed of 28.1 mph this season, ranking 171st out of 494 players with at least 25 competitive runs, according to Baseball Savant.
The Dodgers star has above-average speed, all things considered, but it's not the kind of speed one would expect from someone with 59 stolen bases in 2024. Ohtani doesn't rival the 30 mph sprint speed of players like Trea Turner, Byron Buxton and Booby Witt Jr.; in fact, he's closer to the league average of 27 mph.
Still, Ohtani has taken advantage of his opportunities on the basepaths. He walks often enough to have more chances than most players — he has a career-high in walks in the 2025 season — and his height gives him a bit of an advantage when it comes to getting from one base to the next. At the same time, height can also slow a player down. Ohtani (6-4) and De La Cruz (6-5) have broken that mold with their success on the basepaths.
“You don’t expect a guy to be built like that to be able to move how he does," teammate Gavin Lux said in May, summing up the experience of watching Ohtani run the bases.
Having a feel for the moment, including what kind of lead to take and when to run, is an important skill as well, and Ohtani's 93.7 percent success rate on stolen base attempts speaks to how well he does in those categories.
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Fastest MLB players in 2025
Here are the 12 fastest average sprint speeds from the 2025 MLB season, according to Baseball Savant, among players with at least 25 competitive runs:
| Player | Sprint speed (mph) | Team | SB |
| Trea Turner | 30.3 | Phillies | 36 |
| Victor Scott II | 30.2 | Cardinals | 33 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | 30.2 | Royals | 37 |
| Byron Buxton | 30.1 | Twins | 24 |
| Johan Rojas | 30.1 | Phillies | 12 |
| Derek Hill | 30.1 | Marlins | 7 |
| Brandon Lockridge | 30.0 | Brewers | 10 |
| Eli White | 29.9 | Braves | 10 |
| Jake McCarthy | 29.9 | Diamondbacks | 6 |
| Corbin Carroll | 29.9 | Diamondbacks | 32 |
| Nasim Nunez | 29.9 | Nationals | 9 |
| Bryce Teodosio | 29.8 | Angels | 7 |
Ohtani can run, but he isn't close to the top of the leaderboard at his average speed Sprint speed doesn't directly correlate to stolen base total, though.
Many of the fastest players are part-time players, including Victor Scott II and Johnny DeLuca, because speed alone doesn't justify putting a player in the lineup every day. Others just don't take as many chances, and some stars, including Witt, are careful not to take too many injury risks.
Ohtani played a brand of baseball in 2024 that was built on creating havoc on the basepaths, but in 2025 he took a step back in that regard. Though, he still has over 50 home runs and 100 RBIs.
The fact that Ohtani was able to rack up 59 stolen bases in 2024 without blazing speed might make his achievement that much more remarkable.
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