The miracle of Shohei Ohtani is his extraordinary skill level at everything a baseball player does. Seven MLB seasons into a career like no other, he has not even shown us everything.
“What he’s doing, he’s a freak of nature,” said Andruw Jones, who finished his standout career a decade ago in Japan. “I saw this kid at 18, 19 years old, and I knew what kind of player he was. He didn’t stand out much as a hitter yet, but defensively, as an outfielder, he was very, very good. I would go out after batting practice, when they were taking infield, just to see him throw. He was that impressive.”
Maybe someday, Ohtani will play outfield again and unleash throws like none we have ever seen. This season, though, has been a showcase for his speed. Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ wondrous designated hitter, had 48 home runs and 49 stolen bases entering Thursday’s action, threatening to become the founding member of the 50-50 club.
It is another mind-bending trick from baseball’s master magician, who had never recorded more than 26 steals in a season, in the majors or Japan.
Just two players in MLB history have hit 50 homers and stolen 50 bases in any season, let alone the same one. One is Barry Bonds, who swiped 52 bases for Pittsburgh in 1990 and clubbed a record 73 homers for San Francisco in 2001. The other is Brady Anderson, who had 53 steals in 1992 and 50 home runs four years later, both for Baltimore.
Far fewer players have hit 50 homers in a season than have stolen 50 bases.
“When I did it, I think there were 14, and there’s probably over 30 now,” Anderson said of his 50-homer season. “But even if it’s 30 or 40, it’s still very few. I’m sure the number of guys stealing over 50 bases is in the hundreds. So the homer part is the hard part. And then, typically, guys that have 50 homers are bigger guys.”
Anderson was, indeed, the 14th player to hit 50 home runs in a season. (Well over 100 have stolen 50 bases.) While 31 players have now reached the mark, some of the most celebrated sluggers — Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Albert Pujols — never did.
“It’s got to be a synced-up year where a lot of things go right,” said the New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton, who connected 59 times for Miami in 2017, his only season with more than 37 home runs.
“You have to keep your balance and timing the whole year, not too many lulls. And even when you’re not feeling good, you’ve got to be able to have your few hits be homers; instead of having two singles in your 2-for-20-something stage, you’ve got to squeak out those as homers. The whole rhythm of your season has to go right.”
In 2021, the first of Ohtani’s two MVP seasons for the Los Angeles Angels, he homered just twice in his last 21 games to finish with 46. Last year, when he was the most valuable player again, Ohtani hit his 44th and final homer on Aug. 23, before an elbow injury ended his season.
That injury, which required reconstructive surgery, has kept Ohtani from pitching or playing the field in 2024. It has made this the perfect season to maximize his speed.
“I think there’s going to come a point where the Dodgers are like: ‘We like the stolen bases, but cut it down to 25 or 30 and we can still win,’” said Juan Pierre, who had five seasons of 50 steals, tied with Carl Crawford for the most in the 2000s.
Pierre said the Atlanta Braves would probably tell Ronald Acuña Jr. the same thing.
“I don’t think he’ll steal 73 bases again,” he said of Acuña. “With his knees, they’re going to be like, ‘Look, you’re valuable to us, we’ll get somebody else to steal the bases.’ A lot of guys start out that way — like Matt Kemp — but as you get older, guys just shut it down, especially if you can hit for power. There’s no reason to be out there with a chance to get hurt.
“And once Ohtani starts pitching again, do you really want him running, maybe mess up his shoulder? I don’t think he could put up these numbers and pitch.”
Good assumption. As Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told a reporter from The Athletic on Sunday: “It’s a big, physical toll. I don’t see how he’d be able to do this if he were pitching.”
When Pierre stole 64 bases for the Dodgers in 2007, he hit zero home runs. Fourteen others have stolen 50 for the Dodgers, and the most homers by any of them was Davey Lopes’ 10 in 1974.
When Jones played for the Dodgers, in 2008, he had essentially stopped stealing bases. He had 56 steals in 1995, his last full minor league season, but topped out at 27 in the majors. Only one Atlanta player — Otis Nixon in 1991 — ever had 50 steals during Bobby Cox’s quarter-century as Atlanta’s manager, and Jones prioritized defense, anyway.
“I wanted to save runs,” said Jones, who hit 51 homers for Atlanta in 2005 and won 10 Gold Gloves. “At my young age, I stole 20 every year, basically. But the older you get, it’s like, should I continue stealing or save my legs to run down fly balls in center field? My team counted on me for that.”
No player has ever had more than 24 stolen bases while also hitting 50 home runs. In Anderson’s big power season, he said, a torn quadriceps muscle limited him to 21 steals. Had Anderson been more of a running threat, though, pitchers might have worn him down with repeated throws to first.
Carlos Beltran, who had 312 career steals with an 86.4% success rate, peaked at 42 steals in 2004 and 41 homers two years later. With today’s rules limiting pitchers to two disengagements from the rubber, Anderson said, Beltran might have had a 50-50 season. But the best candidate, perhaps, was Eric Davis.
Davis had it all — except durability. After a 27-homer, 80-steal season for Cincinnati in 1986, he slammed 37 homers with 50 steals in 1987. But in a 17-year career, Davis never played more than 135 games. He spent his prime on the unforgiving artificial turf of Riverfront Stadium.
“It was a double-edged sword, because that old turf, that’s the best thing ever for stealing bases,” Anderson said. He added: “It beats you up, but definitely it’s a faster track.”
Primitive turf surfaces are long gone, of course, and Dodger Stadium has natural grass. Ohtani’s spikes never touch it in fair territory, since he never plays defense, but that presents its own challenge as a base stealer.
“He doesn’t have to run on the field and stand out in the elements, but what he does, I think, would be hard as well — sitting and then having to go out there and run,” Pierre said. “I’m sure he rides the bike and does his exercise, but it’s still not like on defense to keep you loose.”
No pitching, no fielding, no artificial turf, no endless pickoff attempts — no matter. To those with the power or speed to put up 50, it is still a stupendous feat to deploy both skills so prodigiously at once.
And remember this: All those homers cost Ohtani some steals, too.
“Hitting 50 home runs, that’s 50 less times you’ve got to do anything on the bases,” Pierre said. “He’s just trotting, so he’s good.”