As drafters, we do different things in our minds with that performance.
For players like Jose Altuve and Mookie Betts, it is almost expected, which is why they are in the first round of every draft.
For players like Tommy Pham and Elvis Andrus, we are suspect in whether they can repeat the performance.
And for a player like Keon Broxton, his 20/20 season is clouded this year with whether the strike outs make that an unrepeatable performance or whether it'll be the playing time.
In either case, we shuffle him off to Buffalo in our drafts, which is to say that he becomes an end piece for drafters.
What about 25/25? No, not the song, Wayne.
Last year, not one player reached 25/25 status.
Amazing, considering that so many players reach 30/30 heights during draft season.
How many times have we seen this blurb in a chat room....'Possible 30/30 guy'.
Um hmm, and it is possible that I can win the lottery.
Nobody talks about 25/25.
We prefer the eveness that is 20/20 or 30/30.
I'll take 25/25!
In 2016, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and Wil Myers were 25/25 players.
As stated, there were none in 2017.
And, there were none in 2015. or 2014.
25/25 has become the new 30/30.
Stolen bases are not swiped as easily as in prior years.
Heck, last year, only 14 players fulfilled the 25 stolen base requirement in total!
Included in those 14 were 25/25 no-hopers Dee Gordon, Trea Turner, Billy Hamilton, and Rajai Davis.
Let's go back through history with 25/25 in mind.
Carlos Beltran did something that will probably never happen again in baseball.
Beltran had a 25/25 season three times for three different teams.
Lost in the steroid era stats that were 2004, Beltran had a 38/42 year.
Every team in baseball has had a player with a 25/25 year.
A lot of those players are still active.
Or sort of active in the case of BJ Upton and Brandon Phillips.
Curtis Granderson, Chris Young, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Gonzalez, Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp, Ian Kinsler, and Hanley Ramirez have all done the trick during their careers.
Some baseball teams have not had a 25/25 performance for a very long time.
The last time an Oakland Athletics player had a 25/25 season was when Jose Canseco 'achieved' the mark in 1991.
Every time we say that Canseco achieved anything, it is with the use of air quotes.
The Tigers never seem to sign or bring up players with two way abilities.
Their players seem to be slugs for the most part.
Do you remember the last player that went 25/25 for the Tigers?
It was way back in 1986.
A player more noted for a pinch hit home run in the World Series for another team.
That's right, Kirk Gibson was the last player to go 25/25 for the Tigers.
BUT, Gibson was not the last man who had a 25/25 for a Major League team.
We'd have to go 10 years previous to 1976 to find the last 25/25 hitter for a team.
The Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles have not had a 25/25 player in 41 years.
And it doesn't look like that will change soon. They have never been nicknamed the "Flying Orioles'' .
If any team has mastered the art of station to station baseball, it is the Orioles.
And, I could let you have guess after guess in who the Orioles last 25/25 player was and you would not come up with the player.
So, hints...
The player is in the Hall of Fame.
Most fans forget that he even played for the Orioles.
In that year of 1976, he went 27/28
Most would never suspect that he stole that many bases, but he stole 25 or more on three different occasions.
His power and notoriety was what got him to the Hall of Fame.
Here is the answer if still struggling....
Reggie Jackson
Will there be a 25/25 player this year?
Heck yeah.
I've been told so by many drafters in chat that they have these type of players.
Besides, it's March and we're still hopeful that our roster is chockfull of these players.
The reality however is that it probably will not happen.
25 stolen bases for powerful men has become a high hurdle.
And team philosophy like the Orioles station to station baseball have become the norm in baseball.
Still, we can't rid ourselves of the thought that we have that player on our rosters right now.
It's the way we roll.
(Wayne, thanks for the idea for this post
)Edit- Oops, meant to post this under my Stuff...
Somehow, she puts up with me, so I fly out tomorrow and couldn't be more excited. There is absolutely nothing like drafting in these live events - so much better than on-line in my opinion. Also, it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know so many fellow NFBC'ers year after year. After initially not knowing anyone, recent years have felt like a reunion of sorts. I kind of joke that these two weekends in March are like double Christmas for me and, in a sense, I mean it. I feel very fortunate to be able to able to do these leagues.