Kendall George, the Dodgers minor league outfielder currently patrolling center field for High-A Great Lakes, is running roughshod over the Midwest League this year, especially over the last month-plus.
George stole three bases for the Loons on Wednesday afternoon on the road against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, a Brewers affiliate. He has 72 stolen bases on the season, most in the minor leagues this season and the first player to steal 70 bases thus far in 2025.
On Wednesday, George led off the first inning with single, then stole second and third base easily before scoring on a single. In the ninth inning, George grounded into a force out but then stole second again and later scored in the inning.
Wednesday was George’s fourth game of stealing exactly three bases in the last four weeks, and that’s with a five-steal game and four other two-steal games mixed in, just in the last four weeks. George also set a Great Lakes record with six steals in a game back in May, and also stole three bases on April 24.
He’s one steal shy of Dee Strange-Gordon’s Great Lakes franchise record of 73 steals, set in 2009 when the Loons were a Low-A team. Great Lakes still has 22 games remaining on the schedule for George to add to his total.
Alan Wiggins, an infielder/outfielder who played parts of seven seasons in the majors, holds the Dodgers minor league record with 120 stolen bases for Low-A Lodi in 1980. That caught the eye of the Padres, who selected Wiggins in the Rule 5 Draft that December. In 1984, Wiggins recorded the final out of the NLCS at second base, clinching San Diego’s first pennant in franchise history.
Since those 120 steals by Wiggins in 1980, only six times has a Dodgers minor leaguer stolen 70 bases in a season.
Jaron Elkins, a fellow 2023 draftee, ranks fifth in the minors with 62 steals, and has a chance to join this group.