In the last 10 years, the Pirates have been one of the worst teams in the National League in terms of stealing bases. They rank 13th of the 16 national league teams in average steals per year since 2000. Here's the rest of that data:
Now when you look at this data and the teams near the top of the list, that all comes down to who is on the team. Stealing bases isn't a team game, one or two players can put your team at the top of the league by themselves in this category. As you see, the Mets, Phillies, and Marlins are the top 3 on this list. That is largely because of guys like Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Juan Pierre, and Hanley Ramirez. Having one player that can steal 50+ bases a year is going to bolster your team's stats up dramatically. The Pirates have not really had a player that can steal a ton of bases until just recently, with Nyjer Morgan and Andrew McCutchen. Despite those two stealing bases a pretty good rate, the Pirates were below the league average every year since 2003, with the exception of 2009 in which they were only 1 steal over it.
So all that said, it really all comes down to who you have on your team, but the management of the team also plays a decent role. If you were looking at American League stats, you would see that the Angels would be at or near the top of this list every year. They are a team that runs no matter who is on the base. Just watch an Angels game and you will see that.
The Pirates have not had that philosophy in recent years, they have been pretty conservative on the bases. That is going to change, at least somewhat, this year, and having speedsters like Andrew McCutchen and Jose Tabata will certainly help. The Pirates don't have much behind those two in terms of major league players that can steal bases, but they have a couple guys that are fighting to make the team this spring that can steal bases in Corey Wimberly and Josh Rodriguez. Those two probably won't get much playing time even if they do make the team, so their impact will be limited. Outside of McCutchen and Tabata, there's not many guys that have been known to steal bases that will be starting for the Pirates this year. Here's a breakdown of some of the main Pirates this year, and their career success (or lack thereof) in stealing bases.
As you can see from that data, the Pirates really don't have much in terms of speed outside of McCutchen and Tabata. Ronny Cedeno has had a little bit of success in stealing bases, totaling 12 as his career high last year. Matt Diaz also has a career high of 12, which isn't a surprise at all.
The Pirates don't need to have more than McCutchen and Tabata stealing bases, if those two can steal 70-80 combined I think we'll be in good shape. However I think Clint Hurdle will be asking some of these other players to steal more bases than they have in the past. Neil Walker is a guy that I can see being decently effective at stealing. He's an athletic kid who is a smart baseball player. I'd expect 10-15 steals from Walker this year. Garrett Jones also has a little bit of speed, stealing 10 in his short 2010 season.
As I mentioned earlier, if Wimberly and/or Rodriguez make the team, they can be expected to contribute in steals. Wimberly stole a ridiculous 56 bags last year and Rodriguez had a 20 steal season in 2007.
There is more to basepath aggressiveness than just stealing bases as well, I think we'll see the Pirates being more aggressive in going first to third and second to home this year. Now that will result in some guys being thrown out, and probably the Pirates running out of some innings this year, but hopefully the players will be smart with it, and with a little bit of good fortune it could add some significant runs onto the Pirates totals this year.
I think it's worth mentioning that Pirates prospect Chase d'Arnaud can also steal bases. He stole 33 bases last year in AA and averages .268 steals per game. He could very well be the starting shortstop later on in summer, so he's a guy you should be keeping an eye on.
Stealing bases is just another category that the Pirates have been unsuccessful in in recent years, but I do expect that to change this year. I think the Pirates can be pretty good in the steals department this year, and it should be exciting to watch.