“It’s the most stolen bases in a season since Travis Jankowski in 2016”
San Diego Padres outfielder Ha-seong Kim went 1-for-3 with a home run, a double, a walk, a run scored, and three stolen bases in the 2023 Major League Baseball game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Washington, USA, on Tuesday. While he didn’t help his team win, Kim shined on the day.
The Major Leagues have made a lot of changes this season. Most notably, the pitch clock was introduced to shorten the length of games, requiring pitchers to throw within a limited time frame and limiting the number of times a pitcher can strand a runner to two. In addition, the size of each base is now larger than before, which limits the ability of pitchers to tie up fast runners at the bases and creates an environment for athletic players to run wild.
While Bae Ji-hwan (Pittsburgh Pirates) was able to capitalize on this earlier in the season, Kim Ha-seong is now taking full advantage of the new rules. With his one hit on the day, Kim extended his hitting streak to 15 games, dating back to his first major league multi-homer game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 25. But it wasn’t his bat that got the most attention, it was his feet. It was his feet that really got the Seattle battery going.
After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Kim stole second base for his 25th stolen base of the season. But that was just the beginning. After the next batter, Fernando Tatis Jr. struck out, Kim ran again when Juan Soto stepped to the plate and stole third base, making it a “multi-steal” game.
After stealing two bases in the first inning, Kim was like a runaway locomotive again in the third. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Kim took a four-pitch sinker from Seattle starter Emerson Hancock and slid it between the shortstop and second baseman for a single. He then stole another base to give him his 27th stolen base of the season, the first time in both the KBO and Major League Baseball to record three in a game.
With his first three-steal game, Kim jumped into a tie for fourth place in the National League with 27 stolen bases on the season, which led to one record. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he became the most stolen bases by a San Diego player since Travis Jankowski (now with the Texas Rangers) had 30 in 2016.
With the major leagues limiting pitchers’ ability to strand runners, some have argued that stolen base records have become less valuable due to the large number of players on base. Kim, on the other hand, is taking advantage of the rule. As a result, he has the most stolen bases since Jankowski.
The most stolen bases in a season in San Diego history was 70 by Allen Wiggins in 1984. The franchise’s 10th-best record is 44 stolen bases by Ebbes Cabrera in 2012, so it’s hard to see him breaking the all-time list, but at this rate, it’s only a matter of time before he surpasses Jankowski’s 30 stolen bases.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, “Kim went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. “In 25 games since July 10, Kim is batting .383 with a 1.057 OPS, 0.083 higher than second-place Xander Bogaerts (0.301) in that span. Only Juan Soto (.990) and Manny Machado (.837) have an OPS above 0.737,” he said of Kim’s hot streak.스포츠토토
Kim, who was a finalist for the Gold Glove at shortstop in the National League last year, has been on fire offensively this year, making him one of the hottest hitters in the majors right now. Through 11 games, he’s batting .288 with 15 doubles, 41 home runs, 41 RBIs, 63 runs scored, 27 stolen bases and a .835 OPS in 110 games, and his value is only increasing as his quick feet continue to shine.