Welcome, Razzballeroos, to this week’s quick tidbit of stolen base knowledge. We’ve got eight big weeks to go, and I’m hoping I can find you some stolen bases to help close out the season. This week, we take a quick look at a super deep league/Speed Dial target for some steals.
The Twins hit the reset button at the deadline, moving out some key pieces and promoting from AAA. Austin Martin, Edouard Julien, Ryan Fitzgerald, and Alan Roden have joined the active roster. Shout out to Alan, a local Middleton, WI boy from my home area. Go, Ashton, this weekend, however. None of these guys has big fantasy appeal. There may be some extra playing time surfacing, however, for Dashawn Keirsey Jr. He will likely be in a short-side platoon with Martin in CF for the rest of the year.
DaShawn certainly hasn’t adjusted to major league pitching well in his first extended exposure this year. He boasts a 37.6% K-rate and just a .073 ISO. BABIP is an underwhelming .146, so there is some room for improvement. He showed big-time promise last year in the minors, hitting .300 with 14 Home runs and 36 stolen bases. Sprint speed checks in on second to Buxton on the team at 28.5 Ft/Sec. While I don’t expect a drastic turnaround at the dish, there is enough minor league success here where I think he will improve some with regular ABs vs lefties, and already having stolen eight bases in limited action could net another 8-12 steals to close out the year.
Here’s the current Stolen Base Leader Board through Sunday, August 3rd
My boy Jose Caballero regains the top spot this week. The move to the Yankees, however, will not be good for his playing time as he will likely be used only as a pinch runner most days going forward.
The Speed Dials
Second week in a row with two stolen bases, making us now 11 for 42 on speed dials this season.
Remember, these are specific stolen base streaming targets for specific days where the player is owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues. All stats represent both the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined.
Brewers vs Braves – Tuesday, August 5th
Blake Perkins – While he hasn’t run a ton in his limited action so far, last year’s 23 steals on this club and an 83.3% success rate show he knows how. Sprint Speed is also well above average at 28.8 Ft/sec. He will face the Braves and Joey Wentz, who allows a robust .201 SB/IP against and a perfect 24/24 success rate of opposing base stealers. Sean Murphy resides in the top ten of catcher throwing, while Blake Perkins sits in the bottom third of the rankings.
Nationals vs Athletics – Wednesday, August 6th, and Thursday, August 7th
Jacob Young – Much like last week, for similar reasons, I am taking the same player here two days in a row, and it worked last week. Young will likely lose playing time to Robert Hassel III, but with lefties on the mound in Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez, he should be in the lineup both days. Young has great sprint speed at 29.4 Ft/Sec, but has only converted on 69.4% of attempts the last two seasons. That being said, he’s attempted enough to be successful 43 times. Springs allows .145 SB/IP and a 94.5% success rate against. Lopez is at .149 SB/IP and a 92.3% rate against. If Young gets on first with nobody in front of him, he will be going. Both A’s catchers are in the middle of the throwing rankings.
Tigers vs Red Sox – Friday August 8th
Zach McKinstry – This underrated SAGNOF stud has 34 steals the last two seasons and a 94.4% success rate. Sprint speed is above average, but not elite at 28.3 Ft/sec, but his jumps are amazing. He’ll face Kyle Hendriks and the Angels, and his .132 SB/IP and 82.1% rate allowed. Logan O’Hoppe is 61st out of 66 qualified catchers at cutting down runners.
That’s all, folks. Any other questions, hit me up here or on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche
