Milestone for Raúl
Sunday, July 26, 2014
Hayward Thomas, Badgers Beat Writer
The Chocolate Factory at Yum! Field was indeed a sweet place for Raúl García last night. In a mid-summer matchup against one of this season’s most powerful teams, the Kalamazoo Badgers’ All-Star shortstop joined the elite base stealers of PEBA history. After battling Bakersfield starting pitcher Tetsuo Okazaki for eight pitches to open the game, García lined a 3-2 pitch for a single to set the stage. Without wasting any time, García took off on the first offering to Álex Martínez and promptly stole the 300th base of his career. As a testament to this prolific base stealers league wide popularity, the knowledgeable Bakersfield fans politely applauded the rival player for his achievement, and García graciously tipped his cap in return.
This particular theft places García as only the fifth player in the relatively short history of the PEBA to reach 300 career stolen bases. Within just the Sovereign League, García is only the second player to amass 300 steals. Only Powell Clark, with 317 SL steals, has more. Clark, a free agent, has not played this season.
The table below lists the top five base stealers in both the Sovereign and Imperial Leagues. It is interesting to note that García has the highest success rate while needing the second-fewest games in which to reach 300 steals.
|
Rank |
Player |
G |
SB |
CS |
SB% |
|
1 |
1036 |
343 |
99 |
78% |
|
|
2 |
1104 |
335 |
108 |
76% |
|
|
3 |
Powell Clark |
896 |
333 |
93 |
78% |
|
4 |
711 |
307 |
73 |
81% |
|
|
5 |
Raúl García |
740 |
300 |
68 |
82% |
When asked him to comment on his milestone achievement, García replied, “I am just trying to do what I can to help the Badgers win. Mr. Bell had the confidence in me to extend my contract for another three years and I want to do my part to show that it is an investment in the future of the Badgers organization.”
In addition to 46 stolen bases, García is batting .306 with one home run and 36 runs batted in so far this season.