Reds' Elly De La Cruz is the only MLB player capable of joining Shohei Ohtani's club

Shohei Ohtani made Major League Baseball history on Thursday night in Miami. The Los Angeles Dodgers' superstar became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and record 50 stolen bases in a single season.

Ohtani recorded both his 50th and 51st home run and steal in the same game while also going 6-for-6 with 10 RBI. Ohtani showed exactly why the Dodgers shelled out $700 million in order to bring him to LA this past offseason.

Could Elly De La Cruz be the next MLB player to join Shohei Ohtani in the 50/50 club?

Matching Ohtani's newly-minted major league record will be difficult for any player. But if there's one man who can possibly reach such a feat, it's Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz.

Heading into Friday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, De La Cruz has 64 stolen bases and 24 home runs. The Reds' budding star is obviously well over 50 stolen bases on the season, and leads all of MLB in that category.

The new MLB rules alone make stealing bases easier than they have been in the past, so even if De La Cruz loses a step in the coming years, reaching 50 or more stolen bases seems like something you can take to the bank. But he's not even halfway to Ohtani's 50-plus round-trippers. So is it even possible?

There are some similarities between Elly De La Cruz and Shohei Ohtani

It's wildly unfair to compare any major league player to Ohtani. He's often referred to as a unicorn; having no equal. But don't think that this record is unreachable. The one plus that both De La Cruz, and Ohtani have is their speed. Opposing pitchers are not going to want to walk either player because they then become threat to run. Ohtani has only been intentionally walked 10 times this season. The opposition has afforded De La Cruz that option twice.

With that in mind, the at-bats will be there. De La Cruz just has to cutdown on the strikeouts; something that's easier said than done. The skilled shortstop leads the league in whiffs this season and is one away from tying the Reds' franchise record — a franchise that Adam Dunn for eight seasons. De La Cruz is striking out nearly 31% of the time.

But, according to Baseball Savant, De La Cruz is in the 75th percentile or higher in hard hit rate, barrel rate, average exit velocity, and bat speed. Unsurprisingly, Ohtani ranks in the 96th percentile or higher in all those categories. But Ohtani actually has a higher chase rate than De La Cruz, and both have a whiff rate above 30%.

What Ohtani did this week has never been done in MLB before, so you're not going to see this suddenly become a trend. However, 40/40 seemed nearly impossible until Jose Canseco pulled it off in 1988. Since that time, five other players have joined that exclusive club, including two in the past two seasons — Ohtani and Ronald Acuña Jr.

After seeing the transformation from his rookie season to 2024, De La Cruz probably already has joining the 50/50 club on his to do list heading into the 2025 season.

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