The average for caught stealing percentage in the Major Leagues is 28% so there’s not a whole lot of clubs that believe keeping the guy at first base is of much importance. Of course, some pitchers and catchers are just much easier than others. I remember watching one game where John Popper stole 2nd, 3rd and home on Chris Young while Run Around was playing on the stadium’s PA. Or maybe I just made that up. Either way, Chris Young’s terrible but he’s also a seven foot stick of injury proneness, which is a “u” and some fiber short of pruneness. So let’s look at some guys who are actually playing and how easy they are to steal on for fantasy baseball:
Gil Meche – Leads the league in steals allowed at 13. That’s also more than a third of the bases stolen against Kendall. So Kendall sucks, but Meche is making the most of his suckiness. Or the least. Not sure, lost myself there.
Tim Wakefield – About as obvious as Chris Young when it comes to allowing steals. When you throw the ball 37 MPH, these things happen.
Fausto Carmona – The Indians have actually only allowed 26 steals, but Fausto has allowed 10.
Victor Martinez – Three of the top 20 worst pitchers are Sawx. It’s not all their fault. V-Mart’s a DH disguised as a catcher.
Bengie Molina – The throwing out baserunners’ gene definitely is not hereditary. Bengie’s inability to throw past his belly also hurts Jonathan Sanchez, Zito and Cain; all three appear in the top 24 pitchers for stolen bases allowed.
Carl Pavano – Mauer helps only so much. Pavano led the league last year in stolen bases allowed and he’s top 15 this year.
Ervin Santana – Teamed up with Mike Napoli and you’ll see Scioscia shake his fist at the sky at least 3 times a game.
Ryan Doumit – During the pre-All-Star Game festivities, Century 21 should pick one lucky fan to try and steal a base on the Chris Young-Ryan Doumit tandem.
