The MLB's 300-300 club: Why Guardians 3B José Ramírez could be the next to join

Jose Ramirez stole second base on Thursday night against the Twins, helping the Guardians to a 4-3 victory over their division rivals. This bit of thievery was noteworthy for more than being the precursor to an extra-innings walk-off hit, however: it was the 250th steal of Ramírez’s career, which made him the 24th player in history to steal at least 250 bases and hit 250 home runs. 

He’s the first Guardians player to even accomplish the feat, as well. Part of the rarity of the accomplishment is that extreme power/speed combinations don’t come around all that regularly. You get some power hitters with some decent speed for someone with their pop — Willie Mays hit 660 homers and stole 338 bases, for instance — or speedsters with some power relative to their base-thieving peers like Rickey Henderson (a record 1,406 steals with 297 homers), but someone who can steal bases as regularly as they hit homers, and they do both of those things in high numbers for years and years? It shouldn’t be a surprise that Ramírez is just No. 24 on the list, and that not every team has their own rep yet.

Consider, too, that some players stop stealing as often as they age, or end up growing into their power to the degree that there aren’t as many opportunities for steals, anyway. And don’t discount that the game itself changes over time: stolen bases had all but vanished in MLB compared to some previous steal-happy eras, before recent rule changes brought them back into style, granting us seasons like Ronald Acuña’s 2023, in which he hit 41 homers and stole a league-leading 73 bases.  

That just 24 players have reached the 250/250 threshold speaks to the challenges in amassing this many homers and steals. Getting beyond this round number to the