Why baseball is abandoning the stolen base

Billy Hamilton had a jaw-dropping 155 stolen bases in the minors last year — a figure that is all but unimaginable in today's power-driven Big League

Billy Hamilton
(Image credit: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

He may only be 21, but Billy Hamilton is already in the history books.

Last season, the Cincinnati Reds prospect burst onto the national scene when he racked up 155 stolen bases in just 132 games of minor league baseball, breaking the record of 145 set by Vince Coleman in 1983. If Hamilton had been in the majors, he would have shattered the 30-year-old Big League record of 130 held by Rickey Henderson. Or think about it this way: Hamilton's single-season total put him just behind the entire Milwaukee Brewers roster, which led baseball in steals last year with 158. Hamilton's blazing speed rocketed him up the rankings — Baseball America lists him as the Reds' top prospect and 20th overall, up from 48th in 2012 — and now he's expected to debut in Cincinnati sometime this season.

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Jon Tayler is a freelance journalist and associate producer for SI.com. His work has appeared in the Miami New Times, the Seattle Times, and Columbia College Today. You can find more of his work at jontayler.com.