Nasim Nunez added his name to Nationals franchise history on Wednesday, and then kept running.
The Washington infielder swiped his 48th stolen base of the season in the seventh inning against the Detroit Tigers to pass CJ Abrams for the most steals in a single year in franchise history, a mark that dates back to 2005. Not content to stop there, Nunez took third base moments later and pushed the total to 49.
That kind of speed has become his calling card. Nunez now leads all of Major League Baseball in steals, and he has been thrown out only 10 times. His 29.7 mph sprint speed ranks in the 97th percentile, a reminder that once he gets moving, there aren’t many in the sport who can match him.
The bigger number, though, is the one he put out there before the 2026 season: 80 stolen bases. It was a bold target then, especially with just nine steals the year before and 17 in his big league career at that point.
But the idea wasn’t pure fantasy. Nunez had already shown what he could do in the minors, piling up 70 steals in 2022 and 52 more in 2023.
Now, after breaking Washington’s record, he’s still aiming at that 80-steal milestone. After Wednesday’s game, he said, per MLB.com, "I'm going to get my 80."
If he gets there, he’d join a very small club. Rickey Henderson owns the modern-era record with 130 stolen bases in 1982.
Since 1900, only 23 players have reached 80 steals in a season. Nobody has done it in the 2000s, with Jose Reyes’ 78 in 2007 standing as the closest anyone has come.
For all the attention on his legs, Nunez knows the next step has to come with the bat. His on-base percentage sat at .291 after Wednesday’s game, and that’s been a problem all season. He said he plans to spend the winter working on that part of his game in preparation for 2027.
"I've got some work to do this offseason. Real soon, we'll get to swinging so we can get on base some more," he stated.
That work matters because the runway is getting shorter. Next season will be his last before he enters arbitration, and while he remains under club control for multiple years, Washington also has a wave of infield prospects on the way. If Nunez can’t bring more to the plate, his path as an everyday player gets a lot murkier.
So even after setting a franchise record, the offseason looms large. For Nunez, the record is a milestone - not the finish line.
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