We've talked here before about Mark Reynolds' outside chance at becoming the first member of the 50 HR-30 SB club (Larry Walker was closest in 1997), which would be a hugely impressive accomplishment. But he's already joining some exclusive company in baseball history as we speak, uncharted territory for a pretty successful franchise in its first decade-plus of existence.
Two plateaus of note after the jump...
40-20 Club
First achieved by Willie Mays in 1955 (51-24), 26 players have hit this plateau in a single season, most of them coming in the 1990s. Prior to 1988, three no-names were the only ones to accomplish the feat: Mays, Carl Yastrzemski, and Hank Aaron (twice). It doesn't seem to much of a stretch to think that Reynolds will be joining this list -- he's already got enough stolen bases, and is just four home runs away. Three players have done it this decade, including a familiar name who didn't play anywhere near that level for us:
Shawn Green (49-20 / 2001)
Alex Rodriguez (48-21 / 2005)
Alfonso Soriano (46-41 / 2006)
Alex Rodriguez (54-24 / 2007)
45-25 Club
No one accomplished 45 homers and 25 stolen bags until 1993, when Barry Bonds put up 46-29 in his first season with the Giants, en route to his third NL MVP title in four years. In total, just five players have managed to reach this plateau, which Reynolds is nine HRs and five SBs away from. A couple other names on the list are mildly surprising, and it also includes Larry Walker's MVP season in '97 where he was just one HR shy of being in a club by himself:
Barry Bonds (46-29 / 1993)
Larry Walker (49-33 / 1997)
Jose Canseco (46-29 / 1998)
Chipper Jones (45-25 / 1999)
Alfonso Soriano (46-41 / 2006)
There may not be much left to root for while watching the Diamondbacks this year (unless we storm back and win the NL West, in which case ignore this), but we are bearing witness to some pretty remarkable stuff from Mr. Reynolds. When a guy is hitting .290 and putting up counting numbers like this, it's awfully hard for the strikeouts and errors to be all that important.