SAGNOF: Nasim Ready To Find Some Stolen Bases

I’m back from Florida, where I enjoyed opening day with a Penelope Havana Rum Barrel finished Bourbon. Also did my final three drafts on the Forgotten Coast, and I tell you, there’s worse places in the world to finish up Fantasy Baseball Prep Season.

I wasn’t picking up any stolen base targets right away after the draft season, but now it’s time to decide who the guys I might want to look at in daily leagues are, where a steal could be in the mix.

So, a few years ago, a big thank you went out to our everything guru here around Razzball Vinwins. He managed to nail the exact terminology I was looking for in regards to our Stolen Base Streamers. Anytime you grab a guy for your roster looking for a stolen base, it is now known as the “Speed Dial”.

Lots of things go into looking for daily prime SB targets:

Who the opposing pitcher is and what is his SB allowance rate?  Quite a few things go into that. The easiest one to look at is SB/IP. This takes into account a pitcher’s WHIP issue, but also how well they hold opposing runners. However, even a guy like Corbin Burnes, who doesn’t allow a lot of traffic, can be a pitcher to look at when streaming a SB target because once runners get to first against him, they usually end up on second. I am going to have to look for some new tools to help get you this data, as my favorite raw data site appears to be no more.

The catcher also plays a big role. Things like “Pop Time” and “Exchange Rate” come into play here. Catchers play a role, but not quite as much as those throwing them the ball. Even so, there are catchers like Keibert Ruiz and Agustin Ramirez who can’t throw runners out to save their ass.

Finally, if you can’t run fast or learn to get a jump off pitchers, you won’t be able to steal many bags. Seems simple, but even some of the guys who have a high stolen base total only succeed around 65% of the time compared to the league average of  78.4%. Guys with high Sprint Rate and “Bolts” according to Statcast are target guys.

Here’s the very. very, very early stolen base leaderboard.

When I look at daily stolen base streaming targets…Remember, these are called “Speed Dials”, I’m looking for guys available in more than 50% of ESPN or Yahoo leagues on waivers who could fill in for you for a day. This week, I’m not gonna play exact match-ups as pitchers aren’t quite locked in for this next week at this point, with the opening day then day off BS still in play for many teams. Instead, I’m gonna point out a few guys who should be on waivers you could plug in for daily leagues, and probably are going to be worth rostering if you felt light on steals coming out of the draft.

David Hamilton, IF – Brewers:

He’s not the absolute fastest guy in MLB, but with a sprint speed of 29.3 Ft/Sec in 2025, he is in the Top 40. He landed in a good situation with the Brewers and a manager who likes to put pressure on opposing defenses. So far in eight plate appearances, he has 4 walks and three stolen bases. I expect him to continue to run all season unless his bat reaches a point where he can’t sustain in the lineup. If you remember, we wrote a song for him to the theme of Hamilton the musical a few years ago, and it might be time to bring it back.

Nasim Nunez, IF – Nationals

The Nats don’t have anyone really waiting in the wings to take over at second base this season. Maybe Seaver King makes a push before the end of the year. As such, I expect Nunez to have a long leash and plenty of at-bats. Sprint speed is 29.8Ft/Sec and good for 12th in MLB. He has stolen a base about one time in every ten plate appearances (Or more) at every level. So let’s say he gets 350 ABs. Yup, that’s coming with 35 stolen bases and should be on someone’s roster. I think there’s a chance he gets 450 ABs. Do the math on that quickly. People were paying prime dollars for Chandler Simpson and Jose Caballero, and Nunez could eclipse both of them. Nunez was at 409 ADP while both the other two were less than half of that. He’s out there (2% Owned ESPN), and I see him like I saw Caballero a few years back – and that worked out well for me and everyone here at Razzball that listened. Grab him now for steals cause he won’t be unrostered once he has 10 stolen bases in April.