Speedway Classic: Fastest Players in MLB By Sprint Spped

If you blink, you might miss them — and no, we're not talking about the NASCAR race cars that usually electrify the grounds of Bristol Motor Speedway.

We're, of course, talking about the fastest players in Major League Baseball, a few of whom will play in Saturday's Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway.

There are a number of ways to determine a player's speed, from counting their steals to looking at their 90-foot splits. For this exercise, we're looking at the fastest players in MLB by their sprint speed, as defined by Baseball Savant. Let's get into it.

We'd be remiss not to acknowledge one of the quickest players in the Speedway Classic, Elly De La Cruz.

He was born to play in this event as one of the most aggressive base runners in the league. Since making his debut in 2023, nobody has more stolen bases than him (131) and he's tied for fifth in stolen bags this year with 29.

In his 2024 season, he swiped the most bags in the majors with 67. Surprisingly, Cruz is in the 91st percentile in sprint speed with 29.1. Two seasons before, he was Top 3 in that statistic.

Anytime there's a debate about the fastest player in MLB, Witt's name is always going to be in the discussion, and for good reason.

Witt is a threat anytime he puts the ball in play. Since making his debut in 2022, his 31 triples are tied for second in that time span, and his 137 stolen bases are the most by any player in that same timeframe.

This season, his sprint speed is 30.3 ft/sec, which puts him in the top spot. His home to first speed has never been higher than 4.14, which also ranks him at the top percentile of the league. Witt is the true definition of a five-tool player. 

In his 11th season, Trea Turner is still one of the fastest players in