It's easy to focus on batting stats, stolen base totals or some of the notable intangibles when talking about Arizona Diamondbacks star outfielder Corbin Carroll. How could you not?
But every year since he's played more than a handful of debut-season games, Carroll has been the best in baseball in one under-the-radar statistic.
It's not triples, though Carroll's MLB-leading 17 three-baggers certainly played a role in this number. It's not about pure power, either.
Carroll, according to Baseball Savant, has been the best holistic baserunner in the entire sport since the 2023 season, in which he won a unanimous NL Rookie of the Year award.
In 2026, for the fourth season in a row, he led the major leagues in Baserunning Run Value.
Corbin Carroll was best baserunner in baseball again
According to Savant's BRV leaderboard, Carroll was worth +9 in 2026. Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals came close, but trailed Carroll by less than a full run's worth of value.
Carroll also had the most in 2025 (+10), 2024 (+12) and 2023 (+11), totaling a league-leading +44 since he entered the league in 2022.
So, what exactly is Baserunning Run Value? Baseball Savant describes it as such:
"A Statcast metric designed to express the overall value of a baserunner, measured in runs created (or lost) via stealing bases and taking extra bases on the basepaths."
"Each steal opportunity is assigned a probability of being successful or not, based on the pitcher and catcher the basestealer is running against. Each successful or failed steal attempt is assigned a run value, with a stolen base or advance via a balk worth +0.2 runs for the baserunner and a caught stealing or pickoff worth -0.45 runs."
It's not just about stealing bases. Value is given or lost based on a player's ability to tack on an extra base on a hit or on-base play — taking into account the runner's speed, the outfield positioning and the throwing arm of the outfielders, among other factors.
So despite Carroll recording a career-low (again, in a full season) 21 stolen bases, his actual baserunning was still the most positive in the sport. Weak balls hit for singles turned into doubles. Anything that found its way deep into the gap or the outfield corners became a triple.
Obviously, Carroll's 97th-percentile sprint speed is the engine of that value. But it also speaks to his awareness, instincts and efficiency when rounding bases and accelerating.
It's that same skillset that allowed him to be worth positive Fielding Run Value (+4) and +10 Outs Above average despite having one of the worst outfield throwing arms in baseball.
Carroll's overall offensive output was a bit shy of the lofty expectations he's garnered by his own success. He hit .239/.328/.467 with 22 homers and a .795 OPS in 2026. But his 33 doubles and 17 triples — totaling 50 non-homer extra-base hits — were the most of his career.
In other words, don't let Carroll get on base. He's rarely limited to just one.
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