Washington Nationals: Trea Turner last chance to avoid breaking 60-year streak
Washington Nationals infielder Trea Turner is leading the major leagues in stolen bases, but his total could still lead to a first in 60 years
Many in baseball press have talked about the increase in home runs and the increase in strikeouts, but one thing not discussed heavily is the rapid decrease in stolen bases within the game. Washington Nationals infielder Trea Turner is currently leading the major leagues with 37, and without a late-season surge, his league-leading number could be historic.
Turner sits currently with a 6 stolen base lead over second place, which is currently a tie among three players, Starling Marte, Whit Merrifield, and Mallex Smith. Three others have 30 steals, and it’d take a bit of a surge to add another player to the list to steal 30 in a season, meaning only 7 players could end up with even 30 steals this year.
Historically, even when the entire league is down in steals, there are usually a few guys who still run plenty, tallying 50+ bases. In fact, it will be nearly impossible for Turner to reach 50 on the season, and that will be the second season over the last 55 years to have no player reach at least 50 stolen bases.
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The big number that is going to be interesting to watch, however, is 40. If he can steal 3 more bases over the rest of the Washington Nationals season, Turner can help to avoid missing any player reaching 40 steals for the first time since 1958, so 60 years since the major leagues has not had a single 40-steal player.
On top of that, outside of the strike-shortened 1994 season (in which Craig Biggio led with 39), there is a chance that the National League stolen base leader this year will have less than 40 for the first time since 1961.
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Stolen bases are not always an efficient play, and therefore, they have been a play that is less advised in statistically-based analysis of plays. However, with arguably the best athletes that have ever played the game, it is incredible to consider that we could be seeing our least amount of stolen bases, depending on how Trea Turner runs over the final games of the Washington Nationals season.