Ronald Acuña Jr becomes new MLB stolen base leader

Ronald Acuña Jr passes Oakland's Esteury Ruiz for the stolen base lead

With his 44th stolen base in the sixth inning of tonight’s shootout with the Diamondbacks, Ronald Acuña has taken the MLB lead in stolen bases.

He’s already surpassed his previous career high, he’s bested last year’s major-league best 41 steals in the entire 2022 season and now Atlanta’s All-Star has zoomed past Esteury Ruiz to take the league lead for the first time this year.

Acuña has stolen seven bags in seven attempts in July, while Ruiz of the A’s is currently in the middle of a stint on the 10-day IL. After Ruiz, there is a huge gap before the third-highest base stealers, Wander Franco of the Rays and rookie Corbin Carroll of the Diamondbacks, who have just 28 a piece. Carroll has also stolen two bags tonight off the Braves to get to 28.

It has only taken Acuña 51 tries to get to 44 steals, as he has only been caught seven times – giving him an 86% success rate.

In an MVP-caliber year thus far, Acuña is now on pace to steal around 76 bags. That is not only likely to give him the MLB lead, that would be a modern-day franchise record – overtaking Otis Nixon’s 72 steals in 1991.

The all-time record for the Braves franchise is held by King Kelly, who stole 84 bases in 1887 at the age of 29 for the Boston Beaneaters. We don't know how prolific a basestealer he was in his career, however, as he debuted in 1878 and stolen bases weren't an official statistic until 1886. 

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