Elly De La Cruz joins elite list that includes Ronald Acuña Jr., Rickey Henderson with 60th stolen base

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Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz leads the majors in stolen bases, just as he has most of the year. He had actually been going through a stolen base drought lately. He hadn’t swiped a bag since Aug. 8 heading into Wednesday’s action. 

De La Cruz ended the drought and joined some esteemed company with this stolen base Wednesday in Toronto: 

That was the 60th stolen base of the season. De La Cruz also has 21 homers, so he’s in the 20-60 club. It’s not as well known as, say, the 40-40 club, but it’s pretty exclusive and has some major names in it. 

Here are the players to hit 20 homers and steal 60 bases in the same season: 

Elly De La Cruz, 2024Ronald Acuña Jr., 2023Rickey Henderson, 1990Eric Davis, 1987Rickey Henderson, 1986Rickey Henderson, 1985Joe Morgan, 1976Joe Morgan, 1973Some very interesting notes on there. First off, De La Cruz makes this the fourth time out of eight total it was a Reds player while three of the five players on here are Reds. Secondly, there are three MVPs on here in Morgan (’76), Henderson (’90) and Acuña. And, of course, five of the eight seasons on here were accomplished by Hall of Famers. 

De La Cruz is only 22 years old and it’s only Aug. 21. Though he’s fallen behind his earlier pace due to the aforementioned drought, he still has an outside shot to get to 80 steals. That hasn’t happened since 1988, when Henderson and Vince Coleman got there.