SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Arizona Fall League has by no means seen a base stealer like Caleb Durbin.
The Yankees prospect added one other notch to his stolen-base prowess throughout Salt River’s 8-3 win over Mesa at Salt River Fields at Speaking Stick on Saturday afternoon. By advantage of three stolen bases, Durbin is as much as 22 steals in simply 18 video games, which places him in sole possession of second place on the league’s all-time single-season SB record.
The person he handed to assert that mark? Himself, in fact.
Already the league’s all-time stolen-base king with 43 and counting, Durbin has only one man to beat: Rick Holifield, who holds the single-season Fall League report with 24 in 1994, greater than 5 years earlier than Durbin was born.
“It wasn’t my objective or something,” Durbin mentioned, “however I knew how shut I obtained final yr [with 21 steals], and halfway by means of this yr, I used to be like, ‘I believe I might get it.’ I have been actually pushing for it.”
There’s just about no nook of the Fall League stolen-base report books that Durbin hasn’t had his toes in. When he swiped 4 luggage for Salt River again on Oct. 25, he tied the single-game steals report. The Rafters racked up 10 stolen bases as a membership that day, setting the league’s all-time mark. (The final Main League membership to steal 10 luggage in a recreation was the Marlins on Might 18, 2000.)
It isn’t as if Durbin has been working with reckless abandon: he is been caught stealing simply as soon as on 23 makes an attempt this fall.
“I believe that is an underrated a part of baserunning — simply being a menace to steal a base makes [the pitcher] assume a bit bit extra, which is in flip clearly gonna assist the hitter a bit bit,” Durbin mentioned.
That bared true from the leap Saturday. After drawing a leadoff stroll towards Jackson Lancaster (Rays), the southpaw had a protracted look over to first earlier than airmailing the subsequent pitch to the backstop. Already in scoring place, Durbin took off on the subsequent providing and slid safely into third. On the third pitch of the at-bat, D-backs No. 5 prospect Tommy Troy clobbered a two-run homer.
That Durbin is again within the Fall League requires a two-pronged rationalization: throughout the second recreation of a doubleheader on Might 23 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Durbin was drilled on the proper wrist by a fastball. He initially stayed within the recreation to run the bases (naturally) however later left resulting from what he had feared: he had damaged his wrist.
Two months on the sidelines meant that Durbin could be a wonderful candidate to make up for misplaced at-bats within the Fall League. Which is the place the opposite main issue is available in: the Yankees want so as to add the 24-year-old to their 40-man roster this offseason, or else they may expose him to the Rule 5 Draft, which is able to happen throughout the Winter Conferences in Dallas in December.
Durbin has been a base-stealing dynamo since becoming a member of professional ball as a 14th-round number of the Braves in 2021 out of Washington College (St. Louis, Mo.). A part of a Dec. 2022 deal that despatched left-hander Lucas Luetge again within the different course, the Yankees landed Durbin, who has lately taken on a jack-of-all-trades utility position, having already logged begins at 5 totally different positions (second base, third base, shortstop, left discipline, heart discipline) within the Fall League.
Whereas the Fall League has served as Durbin’s proverbial stolen-base playground, he hasn’t at all times run at will as he is made his means up the Yankees’ ranks. That mentioned, he nonetheless swiped 31 bases throughout three ranges this yr, giving him a minimum of 30 steals in every of his first three seasons of professional ball.
“I believe simply being a bit bit extra selective, a bit extra educated in Triple-A,” Durbin mentioned of his mindset. “Right here, I am simply form of letting it fly and having enjoyable with it.”
That kind of electrical energy on the basepaths is interesting to Main League golf equipment, significantly with the brand new guidelines relating to restricted pickoff makes an attempt. The Yankees ranked twelfth out of 15 American League golf equipment in steals (88) throughout the 2024 common season and have not had a 30-base stealer since Jacoby Ellsbury in 2014.
Which is all to say that Durbin, who is aware of the mathematics behind how lengthy it takes for his wheels to beat the catcher’s pop time, additionally is aware of the mathematics behind roster building and what lies forward this winter.
“One-hundred %,” he mentioned of attempting to impress large league brass. “I imply, that is why you play the sport, is to assist a giant league staff on the highest degree. That is been on my thoughts since I’ve gotten to professional ball. Now that it is form of across the nook, it is undoubtedly a bit extra enjoyable to consider as a result of it is proper there.
“However I undoubtedly need to attempt to placed on a present out right here and showcase what I can do.”
