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It started on Friday, April 19, with a baserunning moment many of you may remember.
The next night it would've been understandable if the Brewers had taken away the green light from Jean Segura, their 23-year-old shortstop, but they didn't. If the fourth inning he stole second base off Edwin Jackson.
On Sunday Segura stole another base despite being held hitless in the game, taking second in the fourth inning following a Scott Feldman walk.
The venue changed on Monday but Segura's stealing didn't, as he walked in the fifth inning and stole second with no one out against the Padres.
Finally, he took another extra base in the ninth inning on Tuesday, stealing second off San Diego closer Huston Street.
The Padres finally kept Segura off the basepaths and prevented another steal on Wednesday, but at that point he had already become just the fourth player in franchise history and the first in almost a decade to steal bases in five consecutive games. Here are the others:
Player | Season | Consec Games |
Pat Listach | 1992 | 7 |
Tommy Harper | 1969 | 7 |
Tommy Harper | 1969 | 6 |
Jean Segura | 2013 | 5 |
Scott Podsednik | 2003 | 5 |
That's a pretty interesting list of names, but I think the list of Brewers who are not on the list might be more interesting: Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Jim Gantner, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Darryl Hamilton and Mike Felder are seven of the top ten base stealers in franchise history, and despite combining for 1284 steals in their Brewer careers none of them ever did this.
I don't think it's fair to expect Segura's entire 2013 season to be as good as his April has been. I think most of us will be shocked if he spends the whole season competing for the batting title or the NL lead in hits. But even if this is just a flash of brilliance, it's a pretty bright flash for a player who just turned 23 and is still only in his first full major league season.
Even if Segura simply maintains his defense and speed, though, he's a very valuable player on this team. His six stolen bases tie him for the NL lead, and his 18 double plays turned at shortstop are the second most in all of baseball.
The Greinke trade looks a little better all the time.