Oh, baby, baby! A very good day to all of you Razzball enthusiasts! I hope everyone is ready for another installment of SAGNOF Wednesday with your favorite Dad.
For today’s lede, I wanted to check back in on one of our steals targets from early in the season, Ji-Hwan Bae. We’re almost two months to the day that I profiled Bae for a SAGNOF pre-season analysis and I think it’s safe to say that he’s already out-produced those expectations from springtime.
I outlined the 60-grade speed tool in that April 5th post, and alluded to the fact that it looked like the Pirates were on board with moving Bae around at different positions in those first few MLB games. Well, low and behold, our Bae now has eligibility at OF and 2B in NFBC leagues. He’s even appeared in three games at SS (for those hoping he hits a 5 game minimum in leagues with a lower threshold).
Overall, Bae has been a pretty solid SAGNOF add for our squads. A check-in on his player page here gives us the snapshot of his most important numbers – the 28 runs scored and 18 SB. The triple slash line of .275/.329/.362 isn’t overwhelmingly great, but it won’t sink your squad either.
In May, Bae didn’t homer, but we’re not really banking on him for power anyway. The good news is he did manage to post a better OBP, (.343 compared to April’s .286), and that benefit should be self-explanatory. On base more often = more SB opportunities.
Last week? Bae was one SB shy of the weekly leaders.
Is this guy going to blow by Esteury Ruiz and Ronald Acuna Jr. to capture the SAGNOF crown in 2023?!
Ya. Probably not.
Is he going to continue to be a serviceable SAGNOF play with multiple eligibility and make a run at 50 SB on the year?
I must confess, I still believe…(Still believe).
Where does Bae rank in our individual leaders overall? Did he crack the top spot on the leaderboard? Did Britney Spears shave her head again and show up on TMZ’s website for the millionth time?
Well, I’ve got answers to two of those three questions…
| NAME | TEAM | STOLEN BASES | CAUGHT STEALING | ON-BASE PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esteury Ruiz | Athletics | 29 | 6 | .328 |
| Ronald Acuna Jr. | Braves | 26 | 5 | .407 |
| Wander Franco | Rays | 21 | 5 | .372 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | Royals | 19 | 4 | .267 |
| Ji-Hwan Bae | Pirates | 18 | 5 | .329 |
| Starling Marte | Mets | 17 | 3 | .314 |
| Corbin Carroll | Diamondbacks | 16 | 2 | .373 |
| Jorge Mateo | Orioles | 16 | 3 | .276 |
| Whit Merrifield | Blue Jays | 16 | 2 | .352 |
| Taylor Walls | Rays | 15 | 0 | .337 |
I usually save this chart for the end of the article, but I’ll draw attention to the fact that we have a new member of the top 10. To be honest, it should be no surprise which team he’s from. I think it was Grey that mentioned it this week…the Tampa Bay Rays are out-stealing everyone on the basepaths, and it has not been particularly close.
| TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | STOLEN BASES | CAUGHT STEALING | +/- (from last week) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rays | 62 | 82 | 16 | – |
| Pirates | 59 | 67 | 20 | – |
| Reds | 60 | 58 | 18 | +4 spots |
| Athletics | 62 | 58 | 15 | -1 |
| Diamondbacks | 60 | 55 | 10 | -1 |
| Brewers | 60 | 51 | 11 | +4 |
| Guardians | 59 | 50 | 11 | -2 |
| Blue Jays | 61 | 50 | 13 | +3 |
| Orioles | 59 | 47 | 11 | -3 |
| Marlins | 61 | 47 | 11 | -2 |
| Padres | 60 | 47 | 10 | NR |
A quick check in on some of the teams from our chart…
Cincinnati Reds
- I didn’t want to write the Reds up two weeks in a row, but after they busted in on our top team list last week, they upped the ante once more. The Reds went from 43 total steals up to 58!
- Who were our top individual Reds on the basepaths over the past 7 days? Both Jake Fraley and Jonathan India led the league with 4. Will Benson had 3. Even Spencer Steer stole a couple last week.
- With what should be the top mention here, at the time of edit, (Tuesday afternoon), the Reds announced they were calling up Elly De La Cruz! Oh baby, baby, indeed. Get those FAAB wallets ready for the youngster with top tier power and ready-to-go wheels!
Tampa Bay Rays
- The kings of the stolen base castle are blowing away the competition. Wander Franco leads the Rays with 21 SB and is well on his way to fulfilling the promise that had him at the top of the 2020 and 2021 MLB prospect lists..
- Taylor Walls is definitely a batting average drain, (.222), but his 15 SB are a welcome surprise.
- Randy Arozarena, Manuel Margot, and Luke Raley are the three ‘lucky 7’s’ in the Rays’ SB tally so far this year.
Toronto Blue Jays
- Nine Blue Jays have at least 2 SB on the year.
- Whit Merrifield still leads the charge with 15 SB, but a healthy George Springer has joined him in double digits with 10.
- I’m on Team Razzball when it comes to not drafting a catcher early, but those that did are probably happy with the 10 HR and 7 SB from Dalton Varsho.
Cool story, bro-dad. But who should I be streaming if I’m looking to take advantage of matchups and run out some SAGNOF stolen base threats? Ya, I’ve got that for you here, too.
| TEAM | OPP. SB% | NEXT 7 GAMES | PRIMARY CATCHER | CS% (CS/ATTEMPTS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlins | 92.3 | KC/@CWS/@SEA | Jacob Stallings | .067 (2/28) |
| Dodgers | 89.4 | @CIN/@PHI | Austin Barnes | .089 (4/45) |
| Padres | 88.2 | SEA/@COL | Austin Nola | .081 (3/37) |
| Angels | 85.7 | CHC/SEA/@TEX | Matt Thaiss | .059 (1/17) |
| Pirates | 85.5 | OAK/NYM | Austin Hedges | .156 (5/32) |
- The worst catcher percentage was actually from Reese McGuire. The Red Sox catcher has thrown out just 1 of 22 base stealers this year but didn’t make the qualified list. I assume it has something to do with him needing to work on gripping the balls…
- (I’ll see myself out.)
- Our top spot is locked down, yet again, by Jacob Stallings. The bad news is the Marlin’s opponents improved the SB% from last week’s 91.8% The good news is Stallings also improved his CS%. It’s up from .043 last week. Hey, progress is progress.
- Unfortunately, Miami doesn’t have much upside with their other backstop, either. Nick Fortes is 3/35 for a cool .086 CS%.
We’ll finish with the profile of the week. I normally would reference the Hittertron SB$ value here, but our guy just got the call-up yesterday and wasn’t listed in Rudy’s rankings.
Also, just a reminder that you can have full access to all of this, along with Streamonator and Relievonator (and more) with our 2023 Razzball Fantasy Baseball Subscriptions.
Elly De La Cruz – SS – CIN (top ranked prospect in MiLB)
“Your bags are here. You gotta go to Cincinnati.” https://t.co/xLY872QY98
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 6, 2023
This one was a toss-up between Jake Fraley and Jonathan India. Since both led the Reds with 4 SB last week, the decision was basically a coin flip. I decided to go with whichever one had generated the most noise over the last week and which one Reds fans thought should be either removed or optioned to make room for the minor league prospects that were more than ready for prime time.
Well…a funny thing happened on the way to the editor’s office yesterday. Just as I was about to knock on MattTruss’s door with my final corrections, the Reds announced that they were calling up Elly De La Cruz.
Sound the Razzball alarm and scream it from the rooftops! One of the most highly touted, 5-tool prospects was coming, and the excitement was evident. I think Rudy might have that ear-to-ear Joker smile still burned into his face this morning.
So, like the good soldier of Roto-info, I deleted my entire Jonathan India profile here just to focus on the wunderkind. Yesterday, Cruz was slotted in at SS and, despite taking balls at 3B in practice, India was back at 2B on Tuesday.
But now for the good stuff.
First MLB game and he's batting cleanup. ? Get hyped for Elly De La Cruz. pic.twitter.com/KTqyTREFYf
— MLB (@MLB) June 6, 2023
I should probably defer to The Itch in such instances. For those that want a much more well-versed, (and, let’s face it, much better written), breakdown of Cruz, you can peek in on Itch’s most recent Prospect News profile piece here.
From a scouting grade perspective, this one jumps off the chart. The 60 overall future value is well above average, but the peak years of game power, raw power, and speed rank as 70-grade. In fact, right now, Cruz has 70-grade speed, which makes him very relevant here no matter what the other tools register in at.
The current MiLB numbers are pretty filthy, too. In 158 AB this year, Cruz has 12 HR, 11 SB, a .297 AVG, .398 OBP, and a pretty ridiculous 1.031 OPS.
For what it’s Werth, the Reds are sending a pretty clear message that he’s not getting called up to round out a batting lineup as they had him slated to hit cleanup yesterday.
Needless to say, it’s time to blow your FAAB wallet open if this guy isn’t already rostered in any of your leagues this year. No need to be Toxic…you can just accept the excellence that is Elly. He’s going to be a good one.
That’s all, Razzfolks! If you have any ideas of players that you want a deeper look at, drop them in the comments. As always, if you have any questions or thoughts, you can always catch me here or @MarmosDad on Twitter. Good luck with your SAGNOF plays this week!
