20-20 Vision

A season in which a player hits 20 homeruns and steals 20 bases can, in no way, be interpreted as a poor one, no matter what that player hits. It shows he has a mix of power and speed which not too many players possess. Then again, if it seems like a whole bunch of players have already reached, or are approaching 20-20 seasons, it's because there are. And in many cases, they are part of baseball's new group of young superstars.

Here's a list of guys who are already there, as of last night's games:
1. Hanley Ramirez (21 HR, 37 SB)
2. David Wright (22 HR, 25 SB)
3. Jimmy Rollins (21 HR, 22 SB)
4. Brandon Phillips (21 HR, 22 SB)

Here are the guys who are almost there:
1. Eric Byrnes (18 HR, 31 SB)
2. Grady Sizemore (19 HR, 29 SB)
3. Chris B. Young (19 HR, 19 SB)
4. Gary Sheffield (24 HR, 18 SB)
5. Alfonso Soriano (18 HR, 18 SB)
6. Corey Hart (18 HR, 18 SB)
7. Carlos Beltran (20 HR, 15 SB)

And here are some players who still have a decent shot at it:
1. Russell Martin (12 HR, 18 SB)
2. Bobby Abreu (12 HR, 15 SB)
3. Alex Rodriguez (39 HR, 14 SB)
4. Mike Cameron (14 HR, 14 SB)
5. Curtis Cranderson (16 HR, 14 SB)
6. Ian Kinsler (14 HR, 14 SB)
7. B.J Upton (16 HR, 13 SB)
8. Torii Hunter (23 HR, 12 SB)
9. Gary Matthews Jr. (14 HR, 12 SB)
10. Alex Rios (20 HR, 11 SB)

All 21 players probably won't get there, but a significant percentage of them will. So how does the potential number of 20-20ers this year compare to the last few years? Well, just 7 did last year (Soriano, Rollins, Damon, Cameron, Byrnes, Sizemore, and Wright). The year before, only 4 did (Abreu, Soriano, Sizemore, A-Rod, Bay). And in 2004 the number was back up to 9 (Beltran, Abreu, Corey Patterson, A-Rod, Jeter, Matt Lawton, Cameron, Reggie Sanders, and Hunter).

The last time at least 10 players went 20-20 in a season was all the way back in 2001 when 15 guys did it. But remember, stolen bases were much more in vogue then, and as you'll see, a few of the guys on that list are definitely surprises (Guerrero, Abreu, Cameron, Jose Cruz Jr., Beltran, Roberto Alomar, Raul Mondesi, Jeter, Corey Koskie, Ordonez, Ryan Klesko, Durham, Paul O'Neil, Shawn Green, and Preston Wilson).

I think we're well on a pace to trump that year in, not only the number of 20-20 performances, but most importantly, the quality of players achieving it.