For teams needing stolen bases, it can be tough to find someone who isn't a one-trick pony. I like to focus on available stolen base threats who provide some other category juice. I limited my search to players with at least five steals so far who are rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues in the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship.
When going through the names, I expected to find better options. Several are back in the minors (Victor Scott) or hurt (Brenton Doyle). It seems like some of the best additions will come from prospects being promoted, like Cole Carrigg (who had 30 steals in Triple-A).
While I included all the names in the table who met the criteria, I wrote about some of the top options.
| Name | Roster% | SB |
|---|---|---|
| David Hamilton | 33% | 14 |
| Cedric Mullins | 40% | 12 |
| Luisangel Acuna | 5% | 12 |
| Esteury Ruiz | 1% | 12 |
| Evan Carter | 21% | 10 |
| Justin Crawford | 40% | 9 |
| Brenton Doyle | 8% | 9 |
| Victor Scott II | 6% | 9 |
| Austin Martin | 20% | 8 |
| Leody Taveras | 10% | 8 |
| Andres Gimenez | 50% | 7 |
| Jacob Young | 35% | 7 |
| Ramon Laureano | 14% | 7 |
| Blaze Alexander | 12% | 7 |
| Richie Palacios | 5% | 7 |
| Jose Fernandez | 5% | 7 |
| Jorge Mateo | 2% | 7 |
| Masyn Winn | 33% | 6 |
| Blake Dunn | 32% | 6 |
| Connor Norby | 3% | 6 |
| Jonny DeLuca | 1% | 6 |
| Anthony Volpe | 30% | 5 |
| Caleb Durbin | 17% | 5 |
| Tyler Freeman | 13% | 5 |
| Heriberto Hernandez | 11% | 5 |
| TJ Friedl | 11% | 5 |
| Hyeseong Kim | 2% | 5 |
| Kyle Isbel | 1% | 5 |
First, here
For teams needing stolen bases, it can be tough to find someone who isn't a one-trick pony. I like to focus on available stolen base threats who provide some other category juice. I limited my search to players with at least five steals so far who are rostered in fewer than 50 percent of leagues in the NFBC RotoWire Online Championship.
When going through the names, I expected to find better options. Several are back in the minors (Victor Scott) or hurt (Brenton Doyle). It seems like some of the best additions will come from prospects being promoted, like Cole Carrigg (who had 30 steals in Triple-A).
While I included all the names in the table who met the criteria, I wrote about some of the top options.
| Name | Roster% | SB |
|---|---|---|
| David Hamilton | 33% | 14 |
| Cedric Mullins | 40% | 12 |
| Luisangel Acuna | 5% | 12 |
| Esteury Ruiz | 1% | 12 |
| Evan Carter | 21% | 10 |
| Justin Crawford | 40% | 9 |
| Brenton Doyle | 8% | 9 |
| Victor Scott II | 6% | 9 |
| Austin Martin | 20% | 8 |
| Leody Taveras | 10% | 8 |
| Andres Gimenez | 50% | 7 |
| Jacob Young | 35% | 7 |
| Ramon Laureano | 14% | 7 |
| Blaze Alexander | 12% | 7 |
| Richie Palacios | 5% | 7 |
| Jose Fernandez | 5% | 7 |
| Jorge Mateo | 2% | 7 |
| Masyn Winn | 33% | 6 |
| Blake Dunn | 32% | 6 |
| Connor Norby | 3% | 6 |
| Jonny DeLuca | 1% | 6 |
| Anthony Volpe | 30% | 5 |
| Caleb Durbin | 17% | 5 |
| Tyler Freeman | 13% | 5 |
| Heriberto Hernandez | 11% | 5 |
| TJ Friedl | 11% | 5 |
| Hyeseong Kim | 2% | 5 |
| Kyle Isbel | 1% | 5 |
First, here is a type of player I'm staying away from this early in the season:
David Hamilton: Hamilton is usually the player type to try to avoid until around the last month of the season. While he's provided 14 stolen bases, they've come with just three home runs and a .227 batting average (right his line with his career average of .233). We are almost halfway through the season, and he only has 11 RBI.
His average exit velocity has dropped each season (from 89.0 mph to 87.0 to 86.6 to 86.1). He's such a drag; there is no way he should be rostered.
And here are some hitters I'd consider adding:
Leody Taveras: Taveras is putting together a solid season. He's not hitting for power (two homers, .112 ISO), but his .255 average and eight steals make him a nice bench streamer.
Also helping boost his value is his career-high 10.5 percent walk rate that pushes his on-base percentage up to a career-high .338. Being on base inflates his run total and the odds he'll steal a base.
Jacob Young: It seems like every week, I feature Young on the leaderboard, but his rostership rate stays under 50 percent. According to the FanGraphs player rater, Young has provided more fantasy value at the outfield position than Jo Adell, Sam Antonacci, Seiya Suzuki and Jackson Merrill. He's the highest-rated outfielder who is under 50 percent rostered.
On the season, he has eight homers and seven steals with a .235 average. He's improving as the season goes on by, batting .244/.262/.463 in June with three steals so far
Jorge Mateo: Due to a lack of playing time right now (three starts in the last 10 games), he's fantasy-irrelevant. But there have been stretches where he's playing regularly, and his fantasy value jumps. One of those situations may come soon.
The biggest reason I see more playing time coming is that he's been his team's best-hitting shortstop.
| Player | OPS |
|---|---|
| Jorge Mateo | .798 |
| Mauricio Dubon | .722 |
| Ha-Seong Kim | .267 |
Besides stealing seven bases so far this year, Mateo has four homers and a .287 average in just 100 plate appearances. The biggest change for Mateo is more power, with his bat speed improving by 1.8 mph.
Jonny DeLuca: The 27-year-old is about to come off the IL after starting in six straight games before getting hurt. He was having a decent season, batting .269/.298/.412 with two homers and six steals in 41 games. I think there might be more power in there with his average bat speed up 2.8 mph.
Most of our projections point to around 15 homer and 25 steals with a .240 average. The time to add him is now.
Anthony Volpe: In just 87 plate appearances, Volpe already has five steals, but not much else. Even with a career-low 22 percent strikeout rate, he's batting .237/.333/.329 (with a .509 OPS in June). Besides the struggles at the plate, he has only started in seven of the last 10 games.
There is still upside with Volpe. He averaged 23 steals over the past three seasons. He might still be hurt, but if he starts being productive, add him immediately as a power-speed threat.
Caleb Durbin: The 26-year-old is starting to pull it together. He's started in 13 of 14 games with an improved .680 OPS over that time frame. Before that stretch, he had an unplayable .522 OPS.
The improvement has been achieved by Durbin lifting the ball more. His monthly groundball rate has gone from 61 percent to 50 percent to 35 percent, with his isolated power improving from .091 ISO to .108 to .195.
It's time to roster him to see if he can repeat last season's production (11 homers, 18 steals).
Tyler Freeman: Injuries have limited Freeman this season. His current three homers and five steals would prorate out to 10 homers and 17 steals over 600 plate appearances with a .268 average.
Even if those numbers aren't the best, it's a great time to add Rockies hitters. Thirteen of the next sixteen games the team plays will be in Colorado. Once that stretch is over, feel free to drop Freeman.
Justin Crawford: Crawford's value is in flux as he moves from being the Phillies' everyday centerfielder to the strong side of a platoon. On the season, he has a .431 OPS against lefties and a .659 OPS against righties.
It's an ideal time to add Crawford. According to our starting pitcher grid, the Phillies are scheduled to face 12 righties in 13 games starting next week.
