Zero hits but five stolen bases? This Miami Marlins prospect accomplished that feat
Ian Lewis has shown a knack for being active on the basepaths this season. The Miami Marlins’ infielder prospect has stolen 29 bases in 38 attempts with the Single A Jupiter Hammerheads this season.
But look at his stat line from the Hammerheads’ 4-3 win over the St. Lucie Mets on Wednesday, and you might do a double take.
Five plate appearances. 0 for 4 with a walk. And ... five stolen bases, including a steal of home.
Seems impossible, right?
Yet that’s exactly what Lewis did.
For context, a no-hit, five-steal game has only happened once at the MLB level: July 29, 1989, by the Oakland Athletics’ Rickey Henderson, who walked in all four of his plate appearances in that game against the Seattle Mariners.
In Lewis’ case, the 20-year-old Bahamian, ranked as the No. 30 prospect in Miami’s system by MLB Pipeline, used his speed and some shaky defense against him to get his stolen base opportunities in the Single A matchup.
After hitting a flyout in his first at-bat of the game, Lewis reached on a fielding error in the third inning and promptly stole second base. He later scored on a Kemp Alederman triple to center field. One stolen base down.
In the fifth inning, Lewis then reached on yet another fielding error with two outs. He stole second and then stole third in the span of Jake DeLeo’s ensuing five-pitch plate appearance that ended with a walk. And then DeLeo and Lewis executed a double steal, with Lewis scoring to give the Hammerheads a 2-0 lead.
Three more stolen bases, bringing Lewis’ total for the game to four.
And finally, in the seventh inning, Lewis drew a two-out walk to put runners on first and second. He then worked his second double steal of the night, this time as the trail runner, for his fifth and final stolen base of the game.
On the season, Lewis is hitting .227 with a .656 on-base-plus-slugging mark, 41 RBI, 18 doubles, five triples, five home runs and 65 runs scored in 103 games for Jupiter.
Noble Meyer promoted
Right-handed pitcher Noble Meyer, the Marlins’ first-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft in June, was promoted to Single A Jupiter last week after making his first two starts with the Marlins’ rookie level Florida Complex League affiliate.
In his first start with the Hammerheads on Saturday, Meyer threw three shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four. His sinker averaged 95.8 mph and his slider averaged 83.5 mph. Of his 39 pitches thrown, 25 landed for strikes.
This and that
▪ Corner infielder Jacob Berry, Miami’s 2022 first-round pick, had a solid week at the plate for Double A Pensacola. In five games, Berry batted .400 (8 for 20) with two home runs, one double, seven RBI and five runs scored.
▪ After going through a 2 for 30 slump over a nine-game span, Victor Mesa Jr. had a pair of three-hit games on Friday and Sunday for Double A Pensacola, hitting a home run and a double and scoring a combined four runs in the two outings.
This story was originally published August 21, 2023 at 10:30 AM.
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