Reds’ Elly De La Cruz becomes first shortstop in MLB history with 25 homers, 65 steals in single season

Written by on September 21, 2024

Reds’ Elly De La Cruz becomes first shortstop in MLB history with 25 homers, 65 steals in single season

Reds’ Elly De La Cruz becomes first shortstop in MLB history with 25 homers, 65 steals in single season
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Cincinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz is the charter member of a new power/speed club. One day after joining Vince Coleman and Rickey Henderson as the only players to steal 100 bases in their first two seasons, De La Cruz slugged his 25th home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday (GameTracker), becoming the first shortstop with 25 homers and 65 steals in a season.

Here is De La Cruz’s 25th homer:

The 25-homer, 65-stolen base club is exclusive regardless of position. De La Cruz is only the fifth player ever with a 25-65 season, and it’s now been done six times in history. Here are the other players with 25 homers and 65 steals in a single season:

Year HR SB

Ronald Acuña Jr., Braves

2023

41

73

Rickey Henderson, Athletics

1990

28

65

Eric Davis, Reds

1986

27

80

Rickey Henderson, Yankees

1986

28

87

Joe Morgan, Reds

1973

26

67

De La Cruz, 22, entered Saturday with a .260/.343/.471 slash line to go with all those home runs and stolen bases. He’s a 4.9 WAR player this year, which ranks fifth in the National League behind Shohei Ohtani (8.0 WAR), Matt Chapman (6.9 WAR), Francisco Lindor (6.6 WAR), and Ketel Marte (6.1 WAR).

Despite De La Cruz’s power/speed excellence, the Reds are 75-80 this season, and they have already been eliminated from postseason contention. Cincinnati last made the postseason in 2020. They haven’t made the postseason in a full 162-game season since 2013.

The post Reds’ Elly De La Cruz becomes first shortstop in MLB history with 25 homers, 65 steals in single season first appeared on OKC Sports Radio.


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