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?
The Washington Nationals have a future all-star in James Wood. Wood has had an impressive season so far, after making his MLB debut on July 1st.
While the Nationals have no shot at making the playoffs, they have had the opportunity to see what the future looks like with the addition of Wood.
At 21, Wood has already become a fan favorite in the nation’s capital and he has shown why he belongs in the big leagues.
Through 66 games, he is hitting .273 with seven home runs, 36 RBI, and 12 stolen bases. And he also has a .429 slugging percentage.
Since the start of the month, he has hit safely in 10 out of 13 games and has had four multi-hit performances during that stretch.
On Sunday, Wood cemented himself in the Nationals history book, going two-for-three at the plate with two homers.
He became the fifth player in Nationals/Montreal Expos history to record a multi-home run game before turning 22.
“It felt good to have some things click for me today,” Wood said after his performance against the Miami Marlins. “And I was able to see the results on the field.”
Nationals manager, Dave Martinez enjoys watching the young and talented hitter at the plate and seeing that power he possesses in that bat.
“I love the swings,” Martinez said. “He was behind the balls really well. He stayed in the middle of the field, which was awesome. Let’s see if we can keep him there until the end of the year, and he hits a few more for us.”
Many people across the league know how talented Wood is and know that he is only going to get better and better as his career progresses.
The saying, “the sky is the limit” fits very well for Wood. You just don’t come across a player like him every day.
“The kid’s gonna be a superstar for a long time in this game,” said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker after Sunday’s game. “He had two home runs. … One was a really well located pitch, the other one unfortunately broke Cronin’s streak.”
Wood has all the tools to be an all-star one day. Just looking at him you can tell that he’s super athletic and has a lot of power.
Standing six-foot-seven, he has a big presence at the plate and opposing pitchers have to be careful with the young hitter, because any mistake they make, Wood will make sure to take advantage and make them pay.
The Nationals have a talented group of young players, including Wood. In three to four years, the Nationals could find themselves in a position to make a postseason run, and Wood could be a significant part of that.
It’s safe to say that Wood has been one of the Nationals’ top players, and it will be exciting to see how he finishes up the remainder of the season. And it will be even more exciting to see how he does during a full season
Lawrence Butler extended his career-long hitting streak to 20 games during Thursday’s contest against Houston, earning him the top spot on Week 23 of our #HighFive list; an honor he has received for two weeks in a row.
1. Lawrence Butler “Law Dawg”
Despite being out of the lineup a few days for rest this week, Butler was still able to register seven hits over a five-game span, including last Friday night, when he had three hits and reached safely four times.
The longest hitting streak in MLB this season is owned by Bryan Reynolds who reached 25 games. Butler would be in line to pass that by Tuesday of next week.
Butler is currently slashing .368/.400/.553 with four doubles in two steals through the first two weeks of September.
2. Jack Flaherty “Black Jack”
Jack Flaherty has been the Dodgers best pitcher since joining their rotation at the trade deadline.
He pitched into the eighth inning in 100-plus degree weather, striking out six and allowing no runs on just four hits against the American League Central-leading Guardians.
In seven starts with Los Angeles, Flaherty is 5-1 with a 2.61 ERA in 41.1 innings.
He ranks fourth in the Majors with a 2.68 ERA and has given up one or less runs in three of his last four starts.
Flaherty will take the mound on Saturday in what will be another hot day on the mound in Atlanta against the Braves.
3. Cedric “CM Storm” Mullins
Cedric Mullins flipped the switch in September and is now playing his best baseball since his 30/30 season in 2021.
He had his first two-homer game of the season Tuesday night in Boston and has a .333 average with three homers, four RBI and two steals over his last seven games.
Mullins showed out on the defensive side of the ball this week as well with a diving catch Monday night on a ball that had a 10% catch percentage.
This weekend his Orioles will take on a Tigers team that is doing everything in their power to sneak into a wild card spot.
4. James Wood
James Woods’ position in the fourth slot in Week 23 of our #HighFive list was fueled by a five-game hitting streak and 10 game on-base streak.
Wood continues to have a strong season and appears to be a main building block for one of the great young teams in the Majors alongside Dylan Crews and C.J. Abrams.
Over the last seven games Wood has a .310 average which raised his season average to .277 and OPS to .783. He has also driven in 34 runs and stole 12 bases.
5. Marcus Semien
Marcus Semien is trying to make one last push to get his Rangers back to the playoffs for a chance to become the first repeat champions since the Yankees in 1998-2000.
For the most part it has been a down season for Semien who finished third in American League MVP voting in 2023, but over the last seven games he has shown more life at the plate.
He had two home runs this week, including one during a World Series rematch against the Diamondbacks and the other at the expense of his mentor Ron Washington and the LA Angels.
Aaron Judge is on track to have one of the best offensive seasons in Major League history.
His two-homer game Wednesday highlighted another week where he finished with a batting average above .400, earning him his regular place atop our #HighFive list for Week 20.
1. Aaron Judge
With offense down across the Majors, what Aaron Judge is doing at the plate in 2024 is much more special than I think most people realize.
Consider this: Judge entered Thursday leading the Majors in home runs, RBI, OBP, slugging percentage, extra base hits and total bases while sitting second in batting average and walks.
Comparing his numbers now to his record-breaking 2022 season through 127 games, he has driven in more runs and has a higher in average, slugging percentage and OPS while sitting just two home runs off his pace.
Judge homered three times in the first two games of the Yankees series against the Guardians, including two on Wednesday night to raise his league leading total to 47.
The “dog days” of August do not seem to be slowing him down as this has been the best month of what will likely be his second career MVP season.
With a little over a week to go this month, he is slashing .450/.577/.933 with eight home runs, 18 RBI and 17 walks (eight of them being intentional.
2. Simeon Woods Richardson
Simeon Woods Richardson makes our #HighFive list for a second straight week thanks to two quality starts that led to two Twin wins.
Friday, in his home state of Texas against the Rangers he threw five innings and allowed just two runs on three hits.
Then on Wednesday, in hostile territory against a playoff hopeful San Diego Padre team, he went five innings allowing only one run on four hits and added seven strikeouts.
Woods Richardson continues to stack good starts together in what has been somewhat of a surprising rookie year.
That makes two solid starts in a row for Stroman, who struggled to end July and to begin August.
On Sunday he went six shutout innings, giving up just four hits and striking out five.
This after allowing just one run in five innings against the Rangers in his previous start.
Stroman also shined off the field last week when he awarded two $25,000 scholarships to two New York area college freshmen for his HDMH Foundation.
Although no date has been set, he should be slated to start against the Rockies in Yankee Stadium this weekend.
4. James Wood
With each passing week, James Wood gets more comfortable at the Major League level, leaving me to believe that by next season, he will find himself in the conversation for the best outfielders in the National League.
In his last seven games he is slashing .409/.500/.636 with four RBI, a home run and a stolen base.
Woods had his fourth career three-hit game on Wednesday and has hit baseballs harder than most of the Majors since he was called up.
At the young age of 21 he is fifth in the league in average exit velocity, trailing only Aaron Judge, Ohtani, Juan Soto and O’Neil Cruz
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.
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