THE BRONX, N.Y. — Giancarlo Stanton last stole a base for the New York Yankees was on August 3, 2020. Six years later, he did it again on Saturday.
This is enough to say something is different about the way the Yankees run the bases in 2026. They are faster. They are smarter. And they are not waiting for the home run.
Through the first week and a half of the season, New York led the American League with 11 stolen bases in 14 attempts. The Yankees stole five bases in a single game for the first time since Sept. 5, 2013, when Derek Jeter was still on the field. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero are stealing bags at will. Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and even Aaron Judge are joining in.
And behind all of it is a 35-year-old coach from Yonkers who most fans had never heard of before this winter.
The Yankees stole five bases yesterday (2 by Jazz Chisholm, Jr., 2 by Jose Caballero, 1 by Aaron Judge). That was their most in a game since Sep. 5, 2013 (6 vs. BOS).
His name is Dan Fiorito. And he may be one of the most important additions the Yankees made this offseason.
From Yonkers to the big-league coaching box
AP
Fiorito grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., and attended Fordham Prep in the Bronx before playing college baseball at Manhattanville College, an NCAA Division III program in Purchase, N.Y. He signed with the Yankees as a minor-league free agent in 2012 and spent four seasons as an infielder in the low minors, playing from 2013 through 2016.
When his playing days ended, he stayed inside the organization and started climbing. He managed the Pulaski Yankees at the Rookie level in 2017, the Charleston RiverDogs in Class A in 2018, and a Gulf Coast League team in 2019. He skippered High-A Hudson Valley in 2021 and Double-A Somerset in 2022, winning the Eastern League Manager of the Year award that season. From 2023 through 2025, he served as a roving infield and outfield instructor before being elevated to the club’s Minor League outfield and infield coordinator.
The Yankees promoted him to the major-league staff in early November 2025, officially announcing the hire on Dec. 4, 2025. His title: First Base and Infield and Baserunning Coach, with the baserunning designation added specifically to signal intent.
“Special feeling,” Fiorito said of joining the big-league staff of his hometown club.
Dan Fiorito is a terrific hire to be the @Yankees' new first base/infield/baserunning coach.
His focus on fundamentals has been highly prevalent over his time as a coach in the minor league system. Fio will be an extremely strong asset for the Major League team to have everyday. https://t.co/VcXU9QJt5C
The baserunning problem the Yankees needed to solve
To understand what Fiorito was hired to fix, consider how bad things were.
In 2023, the Yankees ranked 28th of 30 MLB teams in FanGraphs’ baserunning runs above average, costing the team 15.1 runs on the bases compared to a league-average club. In 2024, Statcast’s baserunning metric placed New York at roughly negative 16 runs, second-worst in baseball and worth nearly two full wins lost.
The Yankees were the slowest team in baseball by average sprint speed in 2024. Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu were among the slowest runners in the sport. The team stole just 88 bases, 24th most in the majors, and did so at a 74% success rate, well below the threshold most analytics staffs consider efficient.
Manager Aaron Boone acknowledged publicly that the team needed to clean up its baserunning. The front office responded by both changing the roster and changing the coach.
What Fiorito is teaching the Yankees
Fiorito’s philosophy is straightforward, even if the execution requires daily work.
“We want to play fast. We want to be aggressive. So much of baserunning comes down to discipline,” he said. “Doing little things right on a daily basis, how we train it.”
He describes baserunning as a reflection of a player’s character.
“Are you always looking to take extra 90 feet? Are you running the bases hard?” he has said.
In practice, Fiorito runs drills focused on four areas. The first is lead-off and reaction work. Anthony Volpe, one of baseball’s most aggressive base stealers, is the model Fiorito points to when teaching players how to build and maintain large leads without getting picked off. The second is sprint mechanics, done in collaboration with the strength and conditioning staff, focused on first-step quickness and top-end acceleration. The third is slide technique, emphasizing safe, efficient slides that help runners avoid minor injuries. The fourth is decision-making under game conditions, with live situational drills that force runners to read outfield positioning and arm strength in real time.
“I love to teach,” Fiorito has said. “Find little things inside of their game that push them to the next level.”
The Yankees also back the drills with data. Statcast’s baserunning run values and stolen-base run values are reviewed after games. Sprint speeds and first-step times are tracked with wearable GPS devices. Caught-stealing attempts are broken down on video to identify whether the problem is jump timing, pitch selection or route. The analytics staff and the coaches operate as one unit.
Chisholm, Caballero and the new identity
The roster pieces match the philosophy. Chisholm had 31 steals in 2025. Caballero led the American League in stolen bases in each of the past two seasons, including 49 in 60 attempts in his most recent full year. Together they are the engine of the Yankees’ early-season baserunning surge.
“I feel like that’s the ability that our whole team has, that we’re able to do: use our legs and use our athletic abilities,” Chisholm told Newsday. “We challenge each other out there. We want everybody to go steal bags. We even want [Giancarlo Stanton] to steal bags. So for us, it’s just having fun playing our game and enjoying it, really.”
On April 4, Stanton actually did steal a bag. The one of the slowest runners in baseball swiped second in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ 9-7 win over Miami, manufacturing a run entirely on hustle.
Caballero, who came up through Arizona’s farm system alongside Chisholm, described the early-season dynamic simply.
“It’s fun,” he said. “We’ve been doing it for a couple days now, and we did it growing up in the minor leagues as well. So it’s fun when you have a guy that does the same as you out there.”
Boone pointed to the second half of 2025 as evidence that the approach was already beginning to pay off. Before the All-Star break that year, the Yankees had 63 steals, 18th in MLB. After the break, they had 71, tied for third most in baseball.
“We want to carry that into this year and hopefully be even better,” Boone said.
Yankees baserunning by the numbers (2024 to 2026)
Yankees baserunning statistics, 2024 to 2026 (projected). Source: FanGraphs, Statcast/MLB.com.
Season
SB
CS
SB%
BsR (runs)
2024
88
~30
74%
-16.0
2025
134
~67
66.7%
-2.2
2026 (proj.)
~100+
~10
~90%
+5.0 (target)
The gap between 2024 and the 2026 projection is significant. A swing of 20 or more baserunning runs from the 2024 baseline would be worth roughly two additional wins over a full season.
Fiorito has spent nine years inside the Yankees organization working toward this moment. His hometown club gave him the job. Now the data, the drills and the players are all pointing in the same direction.
“The energy is great,” Fiorito said of the early-season atmosphere on the basepaths.
Through eight games, it is hard to argue with him.
