This argument doesn't merit discussion. The reason why it's a lot more difficult to steal bases the past 20 or so years as opposed to the old dog days of summer when Rickey Henderson was breaking records is simple:
"The league has seen another trend over the past decade plus — a steady climb in average four-seam fastball velocity from 91.9 mph in 2008 to 94.2 in 2023. Hard hurlers like Edwin Diaz, Félix Bautista and Jhoan Duran, who averaged over 100 mph on his fastball last year, punctuate this upswing."
Pitchers within the past 20 or less are bigger, taller and stronger and they throw the ball much harder by around 3-5 mph faster than pitchers 25+ years ago when Rickey Henderson was playing. Hence the ball gets to home plate much faster, which enables the catcher to throw the ball to first base much faster. Get it? So that's why it's much harder to steal bases in the modern era. The rule changes help to negate this and encourage the base runners to even the playing field.
You are comparing different eras of baseball which makes absolutely no sense. There's no way Rickey Henderson could steal as much bases had he been playing baseball against the current crop of pitchers throwing baseball today.
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