MESA, Ariz. – When Rick Holifield stole 24 bases in the inaugural Arizona Fall League campaign in 1994, there was no way to know he would have a tight grip on the single-season steal record for three decades. But for the first time in 15 years, Holifield has legitimate business in the form of a Yankees prospect. Caleb Durbin.
After a three-steal performance in the Mesa game Victory 7-3 against Salt River at Sloan Park on Tuesday night, Durbin became the fourth player in AFL history to accumulate 20 stolen bases in a season. (Eric Young Jr. was the last to do so in 2008.)
With history in sight, Durbin got confirmation from Solar Sox manager James Cooper – who is also skipper of the Yankees’ Rookie-level club in the Florida Complex League – that he would be in the lineup for the final two matches. Four more stolen bases would give Durbin a total of 60 in 2023, an impressive total. But it’s the 61st flight that worries him.
“I’m hungry for it, man,” Durbin said. “I want this record.”
At this point, every steal counts, even if opposing pitchers are more reluctant than ever to allow Durbin’s powerful “shuffle, shuffle, go” method to wreak havoc on the base paths.
Durbin started his night with an opposite-field single – one of his three hits of the night – in the first inning. His tradition of base-stealing became so well known that Salt River starter Darius Vines (ATL n°10) immediately used his two takedown moves to try to keep Durbin close, before firing to first a third consecutive time without success, giving the 23-year-old infielder a free base.
“I think everyone in the stadium knew I was going to run,” Durbin said.
Reaping the benefits of this chaos was another Yankee hope Benjamin Cowles, who played alongside Durbin for the first month of the season at High-A Hudson Valley. Digging against Vines (who has made four appearances in the big leagues for the Braves this year), Cowles jumped on a heater and sizzled it to left-center field, his fourth home run of the campaign.
Noting that he got an “extra kind of joy” for taking an arm that previously appeared in The Show deep, Cowles credited Durbin for diverting Vines’ attention elsewhere. A native of Rochester, New York, Cowles grew up a Yankees fan and calls playing pinstripes in the AFL “a dream come true.”
The pair of infielders formed a formidable duo during their time with the Solar Sox, crushing back-to-back homers on October 16 and ranking second (Cowles) and third (Durbin) on the club in slugging percentage.
Durbin, a 2021 14th-round pick out of Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.), is looking to put a cherry on the cake of his first year in the Yankees organization. Acquired on Dec. 28 as part of the return package that sent left-hander Lucas Luetge to Atlanta, Durbin took over — literally.
Between his time at Hudson Valley and Double-A Somerset, Durbin swiped 36 sacks in 69 games, making him one of four Yankees prospects to rack up that many steals in 2023. While a high ankle sprain right cost him two months of action during the season. in the summer, that made him a prime candidate to continue picking up more reps in the Fall League.
But for all the accolades that come with his stolen base prowess, that wasn’t even the most eye-popping stat the 5-foot-6 Durbin produced during the regular season. Over the course of 291 plate appearances (74.6 percent of which came against older pitchers), he struck out just 18 times, good for a minuscule 6.2 percent K rate.
“Just keep your approach simple. I’m trying to do damage, but I’m keeping it simple at the same time and really picking my spots to keep him free,” Durbin said. “And then with two strikes, I’m usually pretty focused on trying to get the job done and get on base.
“I think that’s the most important thing: I’m confident even with two goals. So it kind of helps me stay relaxed in the box for sure.
As any astute base stealer will point out, it’s getting on base that sets the tone. And Durbin certainly did that during his time in Arizona, slashing .351/.463/.558 while ranking in the Top 8 in all three categories league-wide. It’s been an eventful 12 months for the Illinois native, who has already won Yankees Organization All-Star honors and looks to close out 2023 with another shakeup in the record books.
