SAGNOF: Chasing Steals

Hope everyone had a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. I’ve got a quick SAGNOF article for you on this post long weekend Tuesday.

Today I’m taking a quick deep dive into Chase Meidroth. He was called up April 11th, and while playing sparingly to start, he’s locked himself into the lead-off spot for the Pale Hoes. In 119 plate appearances, he is walking at an 11.8% clip while only striking out 13.4% of the time. This line is very similar to his minor league numbers, where he walked more than he struck out in 2024 in the Red Sox system. His OBP has also been excellent. It has been over .400 since 2023 in the minors. In his small sample size in the majors, it sits at .387. That would be good for 15th in MLB if he had enough plate appearances to qualify.

As far as swiping bases goes, he is running at a much higher rate in MLB than he did anywhere in the minors. This seems to fit in well with how the White Sox are playing this season, being very aggressive on the bases (LouBob leads MLB in steals with 21). He is a perfect 8 for 8 thus far, and I don’t expect him to slow down when the chance to run occurs.  His sprint speed isn’t elite, sitting at an MLB average 27.0 Ft/Sec.

If you’re looking for some cheap steals to go with a few runs, I would take a look at Chase. I’d double down on him in OBP leagues. He’s gonna stick at the top of their order and should be a good bet to swipe another 15ish bases this season.

Here’s the current Stolen Base Leader Board through Sunday, May 25th

The Speed Dials

We went 0 for 4 this week, now 2 for 17 on the season. This exercise is turning out much less profitable than early last year, but we’ll keep at it!

Orioles vs Cardinals – Tuesday May 27th

Jorge Mateo – If he finds himself in the lineup I like his chances, but that’s been a big if lately. He has 23 steals the last two seasons and is converting at 88.5%. He’d face Andre Pallante today who allows .186 SB/IP and a 91.7% conversion rate. The Cards have been catcher by committee with Pedro Pages getting most of the starts. Pages finds himself in the bottom third of the catcher throwing stats.

Twins vs Rays – Wednesday May 28th

Harrison Bader – Bader is only 6 of 9 stealing bases this season, but the sprint speed is still well above league average at 28.3 Ft/Sec. He’ll face Drew Rasmussen who allows .198 SB/IP and an 88.9% success rate against. Danny Jansen is 67th of 71 qualifying catchers the last two seasons at throwing out runners and Ben Rortvedt hasn’t been much better.

Mariners vs Nationals – Thursday May 29th

Dylan Moore – Moore led off Sunday vs a lefty and the Mariners face Mackenzie Gore and our favorite catcher to target Keibert Ruiz Thursday.  Moore was 32 for 38 last year, but is only 8 for 12 so far in 2025. Gore allows .136 SB/IP and and 86.1% success rate against. Much of that has to do with Ruiz who is 66th of 71 catchers at throwing out runners the last two seasons.

Giants vs Marlins – Friday May 30th

Tyler Fitzgerald – His 29.3 Ft/Sec sprint speed is good for 19th in MLB. Coming back from injury he is taking his time getting going and is residing at the bottom of the Giants order. That being said he is 23 for 29 stealing bases the past two seasons. He’ll face Cal Quantrill who hasn’t been awful holding runners with only a .119 SB/IP ratio and a 71.9% success rate against. Much of his issues have come from his catchers where we see Liam Hicks and Nick Fortes now both in the bottom half of the catcher leaderboard when it comes to throwing out runners.

That’s all, folks. Any other questions, hit me up here on or on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche