Stolen bases feat highlights IronBirds final series of season against BlueClaws

By: Michael Marcantonini

The Aberdeen IronBirds closed out their 2024 season by setting a high-mark for most stolen bases in a single Minor League season since 1974, when they did it this past Sunday, September 8, at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium.

It came down to the season finale, but the IronBirds made history on the basepaths when Austin Overn swiped second base with two outs in the bottom of the third inning for the team’s 361st stolen base of the season. The IronBirds added two more in the game to finish with 363 stolen bases, the second-most ever in a Minor League season, behind only the 1974 San Jose Bees (SF Giants, California League), who stole 372 bases. While it's only second all-time, the IronBirds played eight fewer games (132 vs 140) and had a better success rate on the bases (81.4% vs 80.0%) than that San Jose team. Based on the IronBirds' season average of 2.8 stolen bases per game, they were on pace to break the all-time record in 136 games.

The IronBirds had already set two Statcast Era (since 2015) stolen base records: the regular season record when they stole their 314th base on August 14th at home against Greenville as well as the overall season (regular and postseason combined) record when they swiped their 327th bag on August 21st against Winston-Salem. The 2017 Lancaster JetHawks (COL Rockies, California League) held the previous Statcast Era record in both (313 regular season, 326 overall).

When he was asked back in June why this IronBirds team was capable of setting stolen base records, fundamentals coach and first base coach, Charles Bolden, said, “This is the best group of athletes I’ve ever coached in one setting together…having the (baseball) IQ and then you combine it with the mindset that we’re building here overall, it’s a great combination of all of those things.”

It was a total team effort for the IronBirds, as 25 different players had at least one stolen base, seven players had 20+ steals, and three players had 40+ steals. Enrique Bradfield Jr., who was promoted to Double-A Bowie in early August, led the team with 59 in 81 games and was the South Atlantic League stolen-base champion.

Overall, the IronBirds won two of the six games in the final series against the Jersey Shore Blue Claws and finished 67-65 to clinch their third straight season with a winning record. The Birds won the series opener, then lost four straight to the Blue Claws, before picking up another win in the finale.

Aberdeen’s roster for the season’s final week featured eight players from the Orioles’ 2024 draft class, including seven who were not on the roster before the series started, and the Birds received some big contributions from that group, especially offensively. Ethan Anderson and Griff O’Ferrall tied for the team lead with six hits and combined to reach base safely 16 times, Ryan Stafford had three RBI, and Vance Honeycutt added two hits, two RBI, and made a highlight-reel catch crashing into the right-center field wall in Sunday’s win. Austin Overn, who picked up the record-breaking stolen base, had three extra-base hits, four steals and reached base safely nine times.

On the pitching side, the best performance of the week came on Saturday night when Levi Wells and Nestor German combined for 10 strikeouts and no walks in eight innings, including four scoreless from German. Zach Fruit made his final start of the season on Friday night and racked up seven strikeouts in four innings to finish with 113 strikeouts and a 3.03 ERA, to win the South Atlantic League ERA title. Yaqui Rivera, who was named the IronBirds 2024 Team MVP, tossed two scoreless innings with four strikeouts and one save in the series, and finished the season with a 1.99 ERA over 54 1/3 innings.

The series also featured Orioles outfielder and former IronBird, Heston Kjerstad, playing in two games on an MLB rehab assignment. Kjerstad had three plate appearances as the designated hitter on Saturday, then had two singles and a walk and played five innings in right field on Sunday.

The IronBirds will return to Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in April for the start of the 2025 season. To view and download the 2025 IronBirds schedule and for more information on season tickets, individual game tickets, and ticket packages, head over to goironbirds.com. To stay up to date with team information, follow the IronBirds on Facebook (Aberdeen IronBirds), X/Twitter (@IronBirds), and Instagram (@AberdeenIronBirds).