What’s wrong with Elly De La Cruz? Only three stolen bases over two weeks into the season. This isn’t the guy Grey drafted. Being on pace for a 30/30 season is so old school. These guys in the stolen base leaderboard below are the real heroes. Look at all these names you could have had for nothing. Jake Mangum, Trevor Story, Jon Berti, Jose Caballero, are the definitions of SAGNOF. These are the guys you should be Speed Dialing whenever you have a roster spot to fill. They’ll be part of my write-ups quite often this year.
The Speed Dials:
With Truss dropping Jake Mangum in as the fill-in last week we ended up 2 for 4 on our Speed Dials. That’s a fantastic start to the season.
Remember these are exact dates to pick up and stream steals guys in daily leagues. Reminder these stats and analysis include 2024 and 2025 data.
Diamondbacks Vs Marlins – Tuesday April 15th
Geraldo Perdomo – He may not have as good of a mustache as Grey or his name buddy Geraldo Rivera, but he’s got something those two guys don’t have and that’s a crazy good walk rate. Currently, it sits at 18.8%, and while that isn’t sustainable he’s averaged 11.3% in the bigs. His sprint speed is average, but when he goes his success rate is high at 36 for 43 in the majors. While he didn’t run much last year I think he pushes back toward 2023’s 16 stolen bases. He’ll face Connor Gillispie who has allowed all five runners to succeed. Nick Fortes is slightly above average at cutting down runners.
Rays vs Red Sox – Wednesday April 16th
Jake Mangum – He’s back for the second week in a row. He stole twenty bases last year in the minors in 428 plate appearances and looks like he will thrive in the Rays running culture. Sprint speed is well above average at 28.6 Ft/Sec. He hasn’t been caught yet this year, but was only successful 71% of the time in the minors last year so maybe he’s been coached up a bit this spring. He’ll get to try and run on a southpaw Sean Newcomb. Fun Fact – Although he has primarily been a reliever and hasn’t allowed a lot of stolen bases over the years there hasn’t been a single runner caught stealing against him in his eight years on MLB ball. They are a perfect 29 for 29, and three bases have already been swiped against him this year with a .265 SB/IP. Some combination of Carlos Narvaez and Blake Sabol won’t help Newcomb’s issues any.
Angels vs Rangers – Thursday April 17th
Kyren Paris – 29.0 Ft/Sec sprint speed here is elite and he’s shown the ability to cause havoc on the basepaths in the minors and he rarely gets caught. He’s 102 for 113 on his attempts since 2022. Thursday he gets to face Harold’s buddy Kumar Rocker and the Rangers. Kumar hasn’t quite settled in yet and is currently sporting a 1.94 WHIP so there has been plenty of traffic on the bases. Runners are a perfect 5 for 5 against him and he’s got a .217 SB/IP. Add in that Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka are two of the worst five catchers in the league at throwing out runners and you have a recipe for success so don’t Forget Paris.
Twins Vs Braves – Friday April 18th
Harrison Bader – The match-ups for Speed Dials on Friday aren’t great so we’ll try Bader to get his act together. He hasn’t stolen a base yet this year so why not do it on Friday to support this write-up? He’ll face Grant Holmes and the Braves. Holmes doesn’t allow a ton of runners to steal, but they are 7 for 7 when they do. Again this one is really a flyer as there just aren’t good match-ups.
Thanks for the Jimmy Buffett reference!
Glad someone picked up on it!