Surprising faces off to the races on the bases for Miami Marlins in 2026

If the first two games are any indication, this will be a fun year on the bases for the Miami Marlins.

To be fair, 2 games is a pretty small sample size out of 162. Also, Miami stealing bases isn't exactly a new thing. They were seventh in MLB last season, and early reports this spring indicated that there could be a boost in aggressiveness.

However, a lot of the chatter about that seemed to surround the established speedsters. Xavier Edwards putting together a 40-plus steal season. Otto Lopez and Agustin Ramirez trying again for 20/20 seasons. Jakob Marsee turning on the jets in his first full year in the show.

Two games into 2026 though, and it's not just the usual suspects getting things done on the basepaths. Xavier Edwards doesn't even have a steal yet. All the other players just mentioned do, but so do two other names: Owen Caissie and Griffin Conine.

Which leads me to wonder. Could the Marlins have a surprise contender for a 20/20 season on their hands? Could the Marlins push to lead the majors in steals this year?

Again, two game sample. Also it probably needs to be said that these were two games against an average at best defensive catcher on a very below average Colorado Rockies team. Still, it certainly looks like the answer to those questions could be a resounding yes.

Two games in, the Marlins are second in MLB in steals with 5, trailing just the Brewers total of 8. As mentioned earlier, they were seventh last year, but they were also nearly 60 steals off the lead. They definitely look like a team with increased aggressiveness on the brain.

As far as the more surprising base stealers go, a look at last season shows that such a steals breakthrough from a less than speedy source can't be dismissed out of hand.

Josh Naylor stole thirty bases last season...despite only having an average sprint speed of 24.5 feet per second. Caissie reached a comparatively brisk 27.9 ft/sec according to Christina De Nicola on his career first steal Saturday. That's just above league average, but league average is suddenly enough to get the job done in the Wild West that MLB has created with their new base stealing rules. Juan Soto did similar things last year while also being slower than Caissie.

Granted, Soto is a generational player. But strictly going by speed, he's also much slower than Caissie and Conine.

All of which goes to say, Miami Marlins fans might do well to buckle up. It looks to be a wild, head turning year on the basepaths for the Fish.