By Andy Furman
NKyTribune staff writer
He’s a thief – and a pretty good one. Perhaps the best ever.
OK, he’s been nabbed five times – but cut him some slack, he always comes back for more.
Tyler Shaneyfelt is the all-time stolen base leader for the Florence Y’alls baseball team. Pretty amazing, since this 24-year-old NKU grad is completing only his second season with the ballclub.
“I played two years at NKU,” he told the Northern Kentucky Tribune prior to a home game with the Joliet (Ill.) Slammers this week. “I was a Division III transfer from Wilmington College.”
Lucky for the Norse.
In two years at the Highland Heights school, he played in 111 ballgames, had 415 at-bats, 140 hits with a .337 batting average.
Did we forget – 52 stolen bases.
So how did he earn that Y’all’s jersey?
“I made a video after I graduated in May, 2025,” the Dayton, Ohio native said. “I posted it on social media and tagged both the Lake Erie SeaWolves and the Y’all’s.”
He got the call from Florence, had a try-out, and signed.
It was that fast — almost as fast as the five-foot-five-inch speedster runs the 60-yard dash. “I did it in 6.5 seconds,” he said, “but I never ran track in school. It was always baseball. I knew I was fast.”
How fast? Last season – his first in Florence – he set a new Y’all’s record for stolen bases with 46. This season, he’s ready to top that – he already has 44 thefts after 55 games, with 47 to play.
He stole three bases and went four-for-five at the plate against Joliet Thursday evening.
Austin White, with the Brockton (Mass.) Rox currently leads the league in steals — 46, in 67 games – but Shaneyfelt’s 81.9 stolen-base percentage is the the Frontier League’s highest with 30-or-more stolen bases.
And speaking of Brockton, those Y’all’s hit the road with a 13-hour bus trip there for games commencing next Tuesday.
What would make anyone ride a bus 13 hours?
“I love the game,” Shaneyfelt says, “love the relationships made and friendships.
Some of the guys I’ve met playing baseball will be in my wedding.”
For now, it’s splitting time between center field and second base for the speedster.
“I played outfield all my life,” he says, “but when three middle infielders were hurt at NKU my senior year, I moved to second base.”
The competition has geared-up from playing with the Norse.
“We were a mid-major program,” he said, “we face more experienced players now, and face guys from major League Baseball affiliated ballclubs.”
As for stealing, he says, that’s the easy part. It’s getting on base that’s the real challenge. “I take a lot of pitches,” he says. Taking a pitch simply means the batter chooses not to swing at a ball thrown by the pitcher.
“I also have pretty good contact skills,” he said. “I’ll foul-off a pitch if I have two strikes on me.”
He usually is penciled in the leadoff spot of the lineup.
Baseball – and sports in general – were new in his home growing up.
“I grew up in a single-mom household,” he said. “I have an older sister – 28-year-old Mara Walker – who is a big fan. She lives in Dayton and sees me play on weekends.”
So, what’s next for the local thief?
“I’d love to end up in the big leagues,” he said, “but for now I serve as graduate assistant coach at Bethany College, in West Virginia. I’m studying Sports Management for my Master’s Degree.”
He’ll be ready to teach future thieves his tricks.