9 HRs, 9 steals. Can Greinke go 10/10?
He's currently at 9 and 9 -- can he do it?
Zack Greinke is a very accomplished Major League pitcher. He has 208 wins, 2,689 strikeouts, a 3.37 ERA, a Cy Young and six All-Star Game selections. As he enters the later stages of his career, he's coming up on a few big milestones -- 311 K's away from 3,000 and 12 wins away from passing Hall of Famers like John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Don Drysdale.
But when asked which milestone he cares most about during a press conference on Monday, Greinke, maybe unsurprisingly, had an answer that had nothing to do with pitching at all.
"The only milestone I care about is to get 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases," he said.
Even though Greinke currently sits at nine homers and nine steals, 10 and 10 is a tall order. He's in the American League, where pitchers rarely bat. He's made 22 starts since the Astros acquired him in a trade on July 31, 2019, but has only hit in one of them -- getting a single in two at-bats against the Brewers in September 2019. He was thrown out trying to steal, the first time in 10 tries he was ever caught trying to swipe a bag. His last successful steal was with the D-backs in 2019.
He also hit three homers in 48 at-bats for Arizona that season, including two in one game. That's one homer per 16 at-bats. That's pretty outstanding for a pitcher.
If Greinke can somehow squeeze in some at-bats this season during Interleague play and get to the 10-10 mark, he'd be just the second pitcher since 1920 to accomplish the feat. Bob Gibson is the only other -- compiling 24 homers and 13 steals during his 17-year career. Maybe the Astros should just forgo the DH during Greinke's starts and, um, #letgreinkehit?