Adalberto Mondesi is a rare kind of hitter

It’s a rare sight for a hitter to have a lot of RBI’s AND a lot of stolen bases. Usually, a power hitter will hit a lot of doubles and home runs, while driving in a lot of runners. Or a contact hitter who’s really quick will steal a lot of bases.

Rarely you get a player who’s well-versed at both aspects.

That’s where Adalberto Mondesi comes in. He’s been the best of both worlds recently. Last year he took the league by storm with 14 home runs and 32 stolen bases in only 75 games. This year he’s been even better as an all-around player.

Through his first 40 games of the season, entering Monday, he was only hitting .270 but was putting up great numbers in every other category. He led the league with 13 stolen bases and 6 triples while driving in 33 runs.

Those 33 RBI’s were fourth in the American League. If he were to keep up this pace, he would finish the season with 130 RBI’s and 50 stolen bases, with nearly 20 triples. When was the last time that a player had 40 or more stolen bases while driving in more than 100 runs? It was a while ago.

Jose Ramirez came close last season but only had 34 stolen bases and 105 RBI’s.

This is great news not just for Mondesi, but for the Royals as well because he’s still only 23 years old and still has four seasons left before he becomes a free agent. It’s a really good start for a possibly great career.