The second and third greatest base stealers of all time?

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

So how about Elly de la Cruz and his MLB leading 67 stolen bases in 2024? Does he have what it takes to become an all time great on the base paths or will he soon flame out?

I think it depends upon the path he takes. To become a base stealing legend he needs to increase his OBP. This means that he has to acquire more respect for the strike zone. His strikeout to walk ratio is bad. Moreover he needs to learn to hit the ball where it's pitched. Swinging through one's power alley doesn't exactly help get on base when the ball isn't there.

So it's up to him. He has the physical tools but does he have it upstairs?

Unlike Rickey, most of the great base stealers never figured out how to walk very much.

Just off the top of my head I looked up Willie Wilson, Ron LeFlore, Vince Coleman, Lou Brock, Ichiro

None of them Walked very much.

Rickey walked 117 times, his 1st year in the league. This was before pitchers even knew he had enough Power, they needed to worry about that to.

Tim Raines, who came up at almost the exact same time as Rickey, was one of the exceptions. He didn't Walk as much as Rickey, but he Walked 97 times his age 23 season, always Walked more then he struck out, and sported a very respectable lifetime OBP of .385.

For perspective, Ichiro Suzuki who we all pat on the back for being the prototypical modern "Hit 'em where they ain't" guy, who had 10 straight 200 hit seasons to start off his career...has a lifetime OBP of .355.

Either a player has an eye for Walks early on, or they don't. I'm sure there's some outliers, but not many players get a better eye for the ball, as they get older.

Bernie Williams was an exception to that rule I can think of off the top of my head, but he got corrective eye surgery when they figured out he couldn't damn well see very well...and also...he was a terrible base stealer.