Is it human or human lightning? There is a player who shows a whopping 90 stolen base pace in the major leagues this season.
Bae Ji-hwan (Pittsburgh Pirates)’s stolen base has been out of news for two weeks. In a home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on the 21st (hereafter Korean time), he started as a second baseman on the 7th and failed to steal second base after getting a heavy hit in the bottom of the 4th inning. The 5th steal of the season.
Bae Ji-hwan failed to steal four times in a row. In a home game against the Toronto Blue Jays on the 6th, after picking up a walk in the bottom of the first inning, he immediately stole second base. However, he failed on his attempted steal of third base right away. Starting with this stolen base, he experienced setbacks one after another before the Baltimore Orioles on the 13th and 15th, and before Arizona on the same day. In the meantime, there was also a minor injury, and his hitting sensitivity was a little low, so he couldn’t actively go on base.
Although he failed to add stolen bases for 15 days, Bae Ji-hwan is still second in the National League in stolen bases. He trailed 1st place Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves, 18 stolen bases) by 4 cars. Jazz Chisom Jr. (Miami Marlins, 14 steals) also has not had a good stealing pace lately. Tied for second place with Bae Ji-hwan.
Following Bae Ji-hwan and Chisom, Tairo Estrada (San Francisco Giants) and Nico Horner (Chicago Cubs) are tied for third with 12 steals, while Corbin Carroll (Arizona Diamondbacks) and Starling Marte (New York Mets) are tied for fourth with 11 steals. Bae Ji-hwan is the players who will compete throughout the season.
However, if you expand the scope to the American League, there is an unrivaled ‘great sword’. Esteuri Ruiz (24, Oakland Athletics) is a speed guy and “human lightning” who stole as many as 85 bases from three minor league teams in 2018. Ruiz, who is from the Dominican Republic, started as center fielder in the away game against the Houston Astros that day and recorded 2 hits, 2 steals and 1 run in 4 at-bats.
Following 11 stolen bases in April, he also stole 12 bases in May. He tops the American League with 23 stolen bases, leading all major league stealers. He was 9 points ahead of Wander Franco (Tampa Bay Rays) and Jorge Mateo (Baltimore Orioles, 14 stolen bases), who were second in the American League.
While he managed to steal 23 bases, he failed only 3 bases. The success rate is 88.5%. It is calculated that if Oakland played in all 47 games this season, and maintains the current pace by going out in all the remaining 115 games, it will add 56.3 stolen bases. In other words, it is said that 89.3 stolen bases are possible based on simple calculation.
Of course, it’s just a calculation. Stealing is a battle against stamina. It is not easy even if you fall into a hitting slump. 2023 will be his first full-time season in earnest for Ruiz, who made his major league debut in 2022 in 17 games. 53 hits in 185 at-bats this season, batting average 0.286, 1 home run, 22 RBI, 21 runs, 23 stolen bases, 0.350 slugging percentage, 0.378 OPS 0.728.안전놀이터
The last case of stealing more than 90 bases in the major leagues was Ricky Henderson (then New York Yankees, 93 steals) in 1988. Since the 2000s, not many players have stole 5 to 60 bases in a season. However, from this season, there are signs that the small ball will dominate the major leagues due to pitch clock, runner check restrictions, shift restrictions, and base size expansion. Ruiz challenges to create major league history.