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Elly De La Cruz Creates Exclusive Club in MLB History With Milestone Stolen Base

The Cincinnati phenom is in a league of his own.

Tom Dierberger

De La Cruz swiped his 100th career base during the Reds' matchup against the Pirates on Friday night.
De La Cruz swiped his 100th career base during the Reds' matchup against the Pirates on Friday night. / Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Elly De La Cruz just won't stop making history in the early days of his promising MLB career.

The Cincinnati Reds phenom stole his 100th career base Friday night in the fourth inning of a matchup against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Great American Ball Park, swiping second base against right-hander Mitch Keller.

Per Opta Stats, De La Cruz is the first player in MLB history to notch at least 100 stolen bases and 30 homers over his first two seasons in the big leagues. De La Cruz has mashed 37 homers—and counting—over his first 250 career games.

De La Cruz's accomplishment is even more impressive when stacked up against more MLB history.

He is one of four players in league annals to tally at least 20 homers and 75 stolen bases in his first two seasons, joining Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. and two other players who competed many decades ago—New York Yankees outfielder Ben Chapman and Cincinnati Reds outfielder Bug Holliday.

MLB players with 20+ homers and 75+ stolen bases in first two seasons*

PLAYER

YEARS

HR

SB

Elly De La Cruz (CIN)

2023 to '24

37

100

Bobby Witt Jr. (KC)

2022 to '23

50

79

Ben Chapman (NYY)

1930 to '31

27

75

Bug Holliday (CIN)

1889 to '90

23

96

*statistics courtesy of Stathead

De La Cruz also is on the verge of becoming MLB's first player to lead all of baseball in both stolen bases and strikeouts.

Despite the 204 punchouts entering Friday's game, De La Cruz still has a .343 on-base percentage, high above MLB's league average of .312 this season. And he's clearly making the most of his time on base with 65 steals—14 more than Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani in second place.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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