Alex Rodriguez's Special Distinction in MLB's Exclusive 40-40 Club
Which slugger will be the next one to do it like A-Rod did?
While MLB’s 40-40 club is still quite exclusive, it’s become a lot less so over the past couple of seasons.
Before 2023, there were just four players who slugged 40 homers while stealing 40 bags in the same season: José Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Alfonso Soriano.
Soriano was the last of that bunch to accomplish the feat, doing it in 2006 with the Washington Nationals. But with MLB’s new rules to improve the pace of play and add more action to games, there’s been one new member in each of the past two seasons: Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023 and Shohei Ohtani in 2024.
They each made their mark within the club, too. Acuña established the 40-homer/70-steal club, while Ohtani became the founding member of the 50-50 club. But even with those special performances, nobody in the 40-40 club did it like A-Rod.
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Looking Back on A-Rod’s 40-40 Campaign
Rodriguez punched his ticket to the 40-40 club in 1998 while playing for the Seattle Mariners. He was selected to his third straight All-Star Game, finished ninth in the AL MVP Award voting, and won his second Silver Slugger Award.
The 22-year-old shortstop slashed .310/.360/.560 with 42 homers, 35 doubles, 124 RBI, 123 runs scored, and 46 steals in 161 games. He also collected 213 hits, which led the league. While he was a rather consistent base stealer throughout the first 10 to 15 years of his big-league career, the 1998 season was the only time he registered more than 30 steals (though he did have five seasons with 20-plus steals).
A-Rod did most of his damage on the road instead of in front of Mariners fans at the Kingdome. He accumulated nearly the same number of plate appearances at home (372) as he did on the road (376). However, Rodriguez slashed .286/.332/.484 with 18 homers, 54 RBI, 52 runs scored, and 21 stolen bases in Seattle. Those numbers improved dramatically on the road, where he hit .335/.387/.636 with 24 homers, 70 RBI, 71 runs scored, and 25 stolen bases.
So, What Makes A-Rod So Special Here?
OK, let’s get down to the reason for today’s post. Rodriguez wasn’t the first player to go 40-40. While his 46 steals were the most among the first four members of the club, that’s certainly no longer the case thanks to Acuña and Ohtani.
So what gives?! It’s quite simple — A-Rod was the first (and still the only) primary infielder to accomplish this impressive feat. I know what you might be thinking… what about Soriano?
He spent the first few years of his big-league career as a second baseman and flirted with 40-40 in 2002 and 2003 with the New York Yankees. But 2006 was the first year he transitioned to being a full-time outfielder, playing left field for 158 games in Washington.
Who has the best shot at being the second primary infielder to join the 40-40 club? I think Bobby Witt Jr. has the potential to get it done, especially after posting consecutive 30-30 seasons in 2023 and 2024.
However, the player I think has the best chance of making it happen next is Elly De La Cruz. He’s entering his third big-league campaign, is just 23 years old, and led the league in steals last season with 67 thefts. He added 25 homers, 36 doubles, and 10 triples to his ledger. Of course, the biggest knock on his season was the league-leading 218 strikeouts.
De La Cruz has worked on his hitting approach in hopes of improving his contact rate in 2025. If that proves to be successful, he has a lot of things working in his favor. He already has enough speed to get it done, and it feels like he has the power to do it—if not this season, maybe in 2026 or 2027. Calling a hitter-friendly venue like Great American Ball Park home certainly helps, too.
If Elly is the next player to join the 40-40 club, he’ll join A-Rod as the only infielders but he’d also be the first switch-hitter to get it done, which would be sick.
It's fascinating to think A-Rod finished 9th in AL MVP voting with those ridiculous numbers. But, when you take a look at the eight players who finished ahead of him, it reminds us how distorted stats were during the Steroids Era. If you took the numbers of any of those top 10 vote-getters and plugged them into most seasons today, you probably have an MVP with ease, regardless of team record. Not to take anything away from Shohei and Judge, of course (great numbers and winning teams).
But name the last player with anywhere close to a .310/.360/.560 slash line with 213 knocks, 42 homers, 46 SB, and 124 ribbies to not finish in the Top 3-5 at the very worst in MVP voting? Unbelievable despite the roids.
I'd still like to see MLB revert back to the pre-2023 throw-over rules and see if guys like Elly, Shohei, and Ronald would actually steal 50 bags in a year. We can hammer the late 90s and early 2000s for the roids and cheating, but in a way, baseball has allowed players to cheat the system in today's game by giving them an obvious advantage on the bases. Not that it's a bad thing, but it would be great to see the disengagement rule go away in 2025 and see if the players would still attempt to steal as often as they have over the last two years.
I believe it was more of a mindset than anything, and baserunners would realize that the rule wasn't actually needed to give them an advantage. I don't think we'll ever find out. Hard to see that rule going away.
Good info.
VERY cool, I didn't even remember that A-Rod did this with the Mariners! Good stuff, man, didn't know his position.