It’s only happened once, but could it happen again?
Last Thursday, two-way great Shohei Ohtani made history when he acquired 50 home runs and 50 home runs. While the mark is still incredibly hard for any normal hitter to get to, it’s not as impossible as it was before with bigger bases.
Which MLBbro Can Hit 50 Homers and Steal 50 Bases?
Still, it requires one of baseball’s greatest players, with 50 home runs only being accomplished seven times in the last decade.
Aaron Judge
If it were to happen, it’d likely be Aaron Judge. The issue that arises is Judge’s career-high in stolen bases was at 16. He’s also over 280 pounds. Another candidate exists right on Judge’s team, though.
Jazz Chisholm
Bro-star Jazz Chisholm Jr. is up to a career-highs of 38 stolen bases and 23 home runs with his new team. Chisholm was traded from the Marlins and has gotten better in New York. Chisholm sits at just 26 years old and is improving, creating excitement for a potential big year in the future.
James Wood
If one goes looking for the youngest pool of talent, one player has the prototype to get it done if he develops as expected — Nationals rookie James Wood.
Wood stands at 6-foot-7, 234 pounds, but he’s been putting the wood to the ball since his call up, batting .266 as well as stealing 14 bases in 74 games.
His bag-swiping ability was apparent from day one, even though he missed the bag on his first attempt. Wood is just 22 and could easily be in the 97th percentile of either category eventually.
Wood’s teammate, C.J. Abrams has shown the ability to fill up the stat sheets, but has struggled lately, and after being discovered at the casino at 8am on a game day, he was even sent down to the minors by a very unhappy GM, Mike Rizzo. Still, he’s one of the better young players in the league and took 47 bags in 2023.
If he’s able to get some pop in the bat, he could see a monumental season, but it’s unlikely.
It’s worth remembering that Ohtani will go down as one of the greatest players to ever exist and the mark isn’t easy to catch. But it isn’t unrealistic because once a standard is set, others will try to eclipse it. Why not a Bro?
Michael Harris II and the Atlanta Braves walked out of Truist Field with a 3-2 extra-inning victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday night. They also pulled a game closer to the Phillies in the NL East race thanks to some Harris heroics.
Michael Harris came into the game with 43 career home runs but none of them led off a game. Hello 44. Harris’s Friday night 410-foot shot off of Washington Nationals starter, MacKenzie Gore, came out of the lead off spot in the first inning. You might think Harris was setting the tone for the game, but Gore went on to pitch six innings with four strikeouts and no walks with Harris’s homer being the only run he allowed.
With not much happening after Harris’s homer, we can fast forward to the 10th inning where the Braves and Nationals are tied at 2. In the top of the inning Bro, CJ Abrams, pinch hit for Nasim Nunez, who had gotten the start at Abrams’s usual spot: shortstop. CJ popped out which is inconsequential except that it put him in the field for the bottom of the 10th after sitting in the dugout for nearly three hours.
Deep in the grass for the first batter, CJ made the play on a ground ball as the ghost runner moved to third. After a line out, there was a man on third with two outs and Michael Harris II coming to bat. As expected, he hit it to CJ Abrams who picked it up cleanly and then threw it wide and low to first as he was compensating for Harris’s speed. Safe at first. Run scored. Braves win.
“I gotta make a better throw in that situation,” Abrams said after the game. “Maybe take a little more time. I think I had more time than I thought.”
There was no RBI on the play for Harris, but maybe he should get one. His speed is what caused Abrams to flub the throw. “In that situation, with two outs, you try to put the ball in play and see what happens,” Harris said.
Mark and Manny discuss the young and dynamic #MLBbros who are great candidates to be on US Olympic Baseball team when the sport returns in 2028. Among the names are CJ Abrams and James Wood of the Washington Nationals.
BALTIMORE — Sitting just outside of the visitor’s locker room, Nationals rising rookie James Wood carved up some crabs for his Tuesday dinner — the completion of a two-course meal that started with the Baltimore Orioles.
Wood wasn’t the only bro bomber that sliced and diced the orange birds on Tuesday. All-Star shortstop C.J. Abrams and Wood combined for 7-for-8 from the plate in a 9-3 rout over the Orioles.
Although they went a combined 0-for-7 in a 4-1 loss to Baltimore on Wednesday, both Bros put the league on notice with their performance this season against one of the best teams in baseball.
The performance of the duo was the second time a Nationals MLBbro got the best of Baltimore in 2024, as on May 7, third baseman Trey Lipscomb sent Corbin Burnes to the showers with an RBI-single in a 3-0 win over the squad.
In the aforementioned May contest, Abrams struck out three times and Wood was still in the minor leagues, but that didn’t stop either from showing out at Camden Yards.
Tuesday’s Bro Show started out with a double from Abrams. While a big play, Wood seemed to one-up his teammate almost immediately as he brought in Abrams and advanced Juan Yepez on an RBI single.
“We always talk about how smart he is,” Washington manager Davey Martinez said when asked about Wood, “Tonight’s an implication of what he really can be.”
The game continued what has been a tear for Wood, who in the 15 games prior, batted .358 with 12 RBIs and four stolen bases.
Abrams’s fortune hasn’t been the same, as in the month before the contest he had a .169 batting average and struck out 17 times. But, Abrams said he’s tried to be “more relaxed” at the plate and it worked out.
“It’s always good to get three hits, take it into the next game.” Abrams said. “Keep it positive.”
Get Used To Seeing CJ Abrama and James Wood Do Damage
Throughout the game, Wood and Abrams traded hits, while Wood crossed home plate three times and Abrams scored just one less time. As Abrams typically found himself on base when Wood came knocking, Abrams said he was trying to “get out” on the basepath for Wood, and it worked out more times than not.
“He’s doing his thing,” Abrams said. “We knew he’d be pretty good.”
With four hits, Wood became the seventh Nationals rookie to record multiple four-hit performances, and the Maryland native did it in the ballpark he grew up attending.
With the Nationals sitting at fourth in the NL East, these games might not mean much for the standings, but it was Washington’s second win over the 71-50 Orioles, granting it a respectable 2-2 split in the Beltway Battle.
Six MLBbro’s were named to the 2024 All-Star Game, which is held in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers.
Out of those six players, three will be appearing in their first All-Star Game of their careers. And these three players have the skillset to appear in more All-Star Games in the future.
Those three players are Josh Naylor, CJ Abrams, and Hunter Greene.
Naylor and Abrams were voted in as reserves and Greene was added on as a replacement.
These MLBbro’s have put together impressive seasons up to this point and deserved to be All-stars.
Today, they will be able to put their talents on display and show why they were named to the All-Star team.
Let’s take a look at how these three players have played throughout the 2024 season.
The Guardians are one of the top teams in the American League, and Naylor has played a key role in the team’s success.
There have been multiple games where he’s provided a big hit that sparked his team’s offense.
On the season, he’s hitting .246 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI through 90 games. Naylor is second on the team in home runs and RBI, behind Jose Ramírez.
Before the break, he finished with two multi-hit performances against the Kansas City Royals.
Last season, Naylor could have made his first All-Star appearance, but it didn’t work out. But he made sure this season, he would be playing in Arlington.
His performance throughout the remainder of the season will be key if the Guardians want to win the division.
CJ Abrams, Washington Nationals
Abrams started the season on a strong note, quickly making a name for himself as a player to watch this season.
His hard work has certainly paid off and he was destined to make an All-Star team ever since he joined the Nationals.
The 23-year-old shortstop has blossomed into a leader for the Nationals and his glove compliments his bat well.
Abrams teammates think highly of him and know that he is one of the best in the game.
“[The biggest stride he made to become an All-Star] is the diligence in his preparation and the way he carries himself to try to get better every day. It’s not a lot of times you see him just kind of at his locker — he’s always doing something, he’s working.” Josiah Gray said. “I think that’s propelled him from being an exciting player when he first came to the Nats in ‘22, to being an All-Star this year. I think we all can agree that the future is really bright and he’s destined for a lot of great things.”
Hunter Greene, Cincinnati Reds
Greene has improved each season since joining the Reds in 2022. He has already set a career-high in wins with six, and that number will continue to rise as the season continues.
In his last outing before the All-Star break, he set a season-high in strikeouts with 10 as he picked up the win against the Colorado Rockies.
On the season, he is carrying a 3.34 ERA with 126 strikeouts through 110.1 innings of work.
Greene will go on to have a lot of success in this league and he’s only getting better with time. The Reds have their pitcher of the future and he will definitely have more All-Star games on his resume.
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