Oakland Athletics outfielder Esteury Ruiz is currently the major league leader in stolen bases. The 24-year-old rookie swiped his 30th stolen base of the year on Friday night against his former team, the Milwaukee Brewers. He is the first player to reach 30 stolen bases this season.
Ruiz was briefly with Milwaukee last season after being acquired from the San Diego Padres in the Josh Hader deal. A few months later, he was involved in the three-team trade that sent catchers Sean Murphy to the Braves and William Contreras to Milwaukee.
Prior to being a Brewer, he spent quite a few seasons in the Padres minor league system. Before that, he was with the Kansas City Royals. The Royals initially signed him in 2015 and ended up trading him to San Diego in 2017 in order to acquire Brandon Maurer, Ryan Buchter and Trevor Cahil.
Now with Oakland, Ruiz is making a name for himself as the team’s leadoff hitter.
The Athletics are 65 games into the 2023 season—making Ruiz the first A’s player to swipe 30 bags in less than 70 games since Ricky Henderson had 32 through 65 games in 1990. Ruiz is currently on pace to steal 74 bases this year.
Should Ruiz accomplish this feat, he would set a rookie record in that category. Kenny Lofton currently has the AL rookie single-season record for stolen bases with 66.
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