Oakland A’s news: Esteury Ruiz ties AL rookie stolen base record

Happy Sunday, Athletics Nation!

Esteury Ruiz will be doing all he can in today’s season closing game against the Angels to set a new mark for stolen bases by an AL rookie. The chase has come down to the wire, and after failing to grab a bag in four consecutive games, I began to wonder if Ruiz might have to settle for owning the A’s franchise record.

But Esteury caught up with former Cleveland Indian Kenny Lofton and his 31-year-old mark in the eighth inning last night on his way to scoring the game-tying run.

Lofton stole 66 bases through 148 games in 1992. Ruiz has done the same in just 131 games; unfortunately, he’s spent some time on the injured list this season. It’s also unfortunate that Esteury has only walked 19 times for a BB% of just 3.9%. Take away those constraints and Ruiz could be chasing triple digits!

Regardless, it seems a safe bet that the fleet-footed center fielder will be going pretty much the second he gets on base today. I’m gonna go out on a limb and call it: Esteury Ruiz will become the new AL rookie stolen base champion today!

Today will also be Brent Rooker’s last chance to join the 30 home run club this year. That number has always been the mark of a true slugger in my mind. The Rook is in a seven game home run drought after hitting one out three games in a row from September 20-22.

Good luck reaching those milestones today, Estey and Rook!

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