Jason Schiavone 30-30: A Catcher Who Runs
No catcher in the minor leagues has stolen 30 bases and hit 30 home runs in the same season since 1981.
Every team knows what the position costs. Catching is hard on the legs and the equipment is heavy.
So a manager almost never flashes the steal sign at a player who just spent two hours receiving pitches. Catchers stay put, year after year, and everyone accepts it. But Jason Schiavone reached 30 stolen bases this season.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys catcher drew a walk in the fourth inning on Wednesday night, September 16. Then he took second base on the very next pitch. That was steal number 30, and he had already hit 32 home runs. So the steal made Schiavone the first minor league catcher to reach 30-30 since 1981.
An 11th-round pick who hit .180 last year is the Astros’ Minor League Player of the Year
Houston drafted Schiavone in the eleventh round in 2024 out of James Madison University. He is 23 years old, and last season he hit .180 across two levels. Then he rebuilt his swing around a single idea: swing at the pitches over the heart of the plate. We covered that rebuild on September 1.
The Astros named Schiavone their Minor League Player of the Year the day before the steal, on September 15. He had led the entire farm system in home runs, runs batted in and total bases. By then he had played 118 games across three levels. He finished at Triple-A Sugar Land, where he arrived on September 8.
The record came on a walk, not a swing
The night itself gave Schiavone no hits. Las Vegas beat Sugar Land 5-0 at Constellation Field, and the Aviators held the whole club to one. Schiavone was not the man who got it.
So he reached base without one. He walked with two outs in the fourth, then stole second on the first pitch thrown to the next hitter, CJ Alexander. Number 30.
He led off the seventh with another walk and stole second again. Then he pulled a double steal with Zach Dezenzo that moved him to third. But a flyout and a groundout stranded both runners, and the shutout held. Three steals in all, which the Space Cowboys say ties their single-game record.
The last catcher to do this was in 1981
Willie Royster was 27 and playing for the Charlotte O’s when he went 30-30 in 1981. The records on this go back to 1946. In them, Royster and Schiavone are the only catchers who have managed it — two players, 45 years apart.
The major leagues are still waiting for their first. Schiavone was also only the second minor leaguer at any position to reach 30-30 this season, joining Carson Roccaforte of the Royals organization. That tells you how uncommon the combination is, even among players built to run.
Eighty-six walks are what made thirty steals possible
Here is the number underneath the number. When the Astros handed Schiavone the award, they credited him with 86 walks, fifth-most in the organization.
Those were 86 free trips to first base. Schiavone could not steal a base he never reached, so the patience had to come before the speed.
He took the pitches that were not his and waited for the counts that were. That forbearance is what turned free passes into chances to run. The legs got the credit, but the eyes did the work.
He kept doing the defensive work through all of it, too. At Double-A he threw out 40 percent of the runners who tested him — 27 caught stealing in 68 attempts. His arm has been measured at 88 mph on throws to second base.
Schiavone’s arm and his legs are his own. What he did with the strike zone is available to anybody.
Learn which pitches are yours and let the others go by. Then you will stand on first base more often than the kids swinging at everything. A catcher on first base is a catcher who can run.
Sweat the gear and never fear.
Try this at your next practice
- The first-pitch read. Take a normal lead off first and have a coach throw from the stretch. Go on the first pitch every time for ten reps, and have someone time you from first movement to the bag. Write the number down and keep the card — next week’s target is this week’s number. Schiavone’s 30th steal came on the first pitch thrown to the next hitter, so the jump was decided before the pitch was.
- Heart-of-the-plate rounds. Take one round of batting practice where you swing only at pitches over the middle third and let everything else go by, even strikes on the corners. That is the single idea Schiavone rebuilt his swing around after a .180 season, and it is the cheapest change in this article to copy.
- Take-to-walk. Run a live at-bat where your only goal is to reach base without swinging at a pitch outside your zone. Count how many of ten at-bats end in a walk. Schiavone’s walks are what gave him free trips to first, and you cannot steal a base you never reach.
Sources: Astros prospect becomes first MiLB catcher with 30-30 season in 45 years (MLB.com), With Three Steals, Schiavone Joins 30/30 Club in Space Cowboys Defeat (Sugar Land Space Cowboys), Astros Announce 2026 MiLB Players of the Year (Houston Astros), Bryce Mayer and Jason Schiavone Named Astros Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Year for 2026 (Sugar Land Space Cowboys), Astros Prospect Jason Schiavone’s Breakout Has Him on the Rise (Astros Future).