Mets pitcher is a cheat code against MLB’s new rules

A good pitcher is defined by the quality of his offerings and his ability to prevent runs from scoring. Basic stuff.

Baseball’s new rules implemented in 2023, however, reinforced a pitcher’s ability to perform another basic task of his job: keeping baserunners close and preventing stealing. Many of those rules — pitch clock, pickoff/step-off limits, bigger bases — were intended to increase scoring and running, and until now, there had not been an all-encompassing, public statistic available to explain who does the best at keeping runners honest (detached from the catcher’s skill).

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The Statcast metric unveiled Saturday showed that New York Mets lefty David Peterson has been the best in MLB at “preventing base runners from advancing on the bases, via steal attempts or pickoffs/balks,” as defined by MLB, from first base over the past four and two seasons, respectively. (Of course, that only goes so far as Peterson has a career 4.51 ERA and posted a 5.03 ERA last season.)

According to the metric, Peterson’s ability to keep base runners close has been worth 16 Pitcher Base Advances Prevented over the past four seasons, and he was 14 over the past two seasons. He ranked No. 4 in 2023 with 7 Pitcher Base Advances prevented. He allowed two steals of second base (with four caught stealing) over the past four seasons. Peterson has thrown 333 innings in his career (111 last year and 216 2/3 over the past two seasons).

“It basically comes down to the fact that when runners do go, they do poorly – likely in part because he’s got one of the smallest lead distances allowed on steal attempts in the game,” MLB.com’s Mike Petriello wrote Saturday.

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Unfortunately for the Mets, Peterson will miss a good portion of the 2024 season because of hip surgery.

But if there were any doubts about the metric, all you have to do is look at the worst pitchers on the…