Ronald Acuña Jr has fifth 40/40 season in Major League Baseball history
Atlanta Braves rightfielder Ronald Acuña Jr has made history with his 40th home run of the season, coming off of Washington Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin.
Acuña becomes only the fifth player in Major League Baseball history with 40 home runs and 40 (or more) stolen bases in a season, joining Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano.
Ronald's been able to do it with dominant performances on the basepaths, and has by far the highest stolen base total for anyone in that exclusive group:
| Year | Player | Team | HRs | SBs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | Jose Canseco | Oakland Athletics | 42 | 40 |
1996 | Barry Bonds | San Francisco Giants | 42 | 40 |
1998 | Alex Rodriguez | Seattle Mariners | 42 | 46 |
2006 | Alfonso Soriano | Washington Nationals | 46 | 41 |
2023 | Ronald Acuña Jr | Atlanta Braves | 40 | 68 |
Canseco won the MVP award in 1988 and led his Oakland Athletics to the World Series, two feats that Ronald is hoping to emulate.
It's not the first time that Acuña's flirted with a 40/40 season. He finished the 2019 season with 41 home runs and 37 stolen bases, coming in 5th in the MVP voting and winning a Silver Slugger for his efforts. Only Acuña and Barry Bonds have multiple seasons with 40 homers and 37 or more steals; nobody has ever twice gotten a 40/40 season.
But this season's been a new level of dominance for Acuña. He's more than halved his strikeout rate from a career average of 25.2% to just 11.2% entering this week, and it's fueled him to set career highs in hits, runs, extra base hits, and RBIs while setting a new career-low in strikeouts for a season (excluding the shortened 2020 season).
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