What Does CS Mean in Baseball? Caught Stealing Explained
CS in baseball stands for caught stealing — when a baserunner who tries to steal a base is tagged out before reaching it safely. It is charged to the runner, ends the play as an out, and is the denominator partner to SB in a player's stolen-base success rate.
2026 MLB Sprint Speed Leaders
As of June 12, 2026Live top 5 by sprint speed from real Statcast data, refreshed nightly from Baseball Savant.
| # | Hitter | Team | Sprint Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Witt Jr. | KC | 30.4 ft/s |
| 2 | Henry Bolte | ATH | 30.4 ft/s |
| 3 | Jorge Mateo | ATL | 30.4 ft/s |
| 4 | Eli White | ATL | 30.4 ft/s |
| 5 | Gabriel Rincones Jr. | PHI | 30.4 ft/s |
See the 2026 MLB Sprint Speed Leaders — the full ranked list of every qualified hitter with team, position, and card rating.
What Does CS Mean in Baseball?
CS stands for caught stealing. It is recorded when a baserunner tries to advance to the next base on a steal attempt and is tagged out before he gets there. The runner took off on his own — not on a batted ball — the defense caught the throw and applied the tag in time, and the play ends in an out charged to the runner. On a stat line CS sits right next to SB (stolen bases): together they tell you how often a player ran *and* how often it worked. A runner with 30 SB and 3 CS was a weapon; a runner with 12 SB and 11 CS was costing his team outs on the bases.
How Is a Caught Stealing Scored?
A caught stealing is charged when, in the official scorer's judgment, a runner is put out while attempting to steal, when he is picked off and then thrown out trying to advance, or when he over-slides the bag and is tagged on a steal attempt. The out is credited to the defense as a normal putout-and-assist (a strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out double play reads "2-4" or "2-6"), and the runner is debited one CS. It is *not* charged as a fielding error on the offense — it is a clean defensive play. The key signal is intent: the runner has to be trying to take the base on his own legs for the play to score as a steal attempt rather than ordinary baserunning.
Does CS Count Against a Player's Stats?
Yes, but indirectly. A caught stealing does not change a hitter's batting average or on-base percentage — those are settled at the plate, and the runner already reached base earlier. What CS damages is the runner's stolen-base success rate, the figure analysts actually care about: SB ÷ (SB + CS). Because a failed steal erases a baserunner *and* burns an out, the break-even point is high — a runner generally needs to succeed around 75% of the time for the attempts to be worth the risk. A high CS total is one of the quietest ways a fast player can hurt his team while looking aggressive and exciting.
Worked Example
Runner on first, one out. He breaks for second on the pitch. The catcher receives the ball, pops up, and fires a strike to the shortstop covering the bag, who applies the tag a half-step before the runner's hand reaches it — scored 2-6, caught stealing. The runner is debited one CS, the inning now has two outs, and the team has lost its baserunner. Flip one detail — the catcher's throw sails high, or the runner's jump was a tick quicker — and the same play is a stolen base instead. The margin between SB and CS is often a few inches and a few hundredths of a second, which is exactly why raw speed and a good jump are so valuable.
Why Caught Stealing Matters
Caught stealing is the cost side of the stolen-base ledger, and ignoring it makes aggressive runners look better than they are. Two factors mostly decide it: how fast the runner is and how quickly the catcher can get the ball to the bag (pop time). The 2023 rule changes — bigger bases and the pitch clock with its pickoff limits — tilted the math toward runners and pushed CS rates down league-wide, which is why steal attempts have surged. When you evaluate a basestealer, always read SB and CS together; the success rate is the number that tells you whether the running game is adding runs or giving them away.
In Legends Deck
Legends Deck rates the two halves of the caught-stealing equation separately. A runner's basestealing threat is driven by sprint speed — raw feet-per-second off the bag — while the defense's ability to *create* a CS comes down to a catcher's pop time, the seconds from glove pop to the ball reaching second. The card engine resolves a steal attempt by weighing the runner's speed against the catcher's arm and release, so a card with elite sprint speed facing a slow-release backstop converts steals at a high clip, while the same card runs into outs against a cannon. See where the league's fastest runners rank on the 2026 MLB sprint speed leaderboard, or browse every Statcast-driven input on the leaderboards hub.