I’ve only been loosely following the counterproposals MLB and the MLBPA are exchanging. Where are we at now, 200 to -38? How does a negative game take place? Only position players are allowed to pitch and only pitchers get to hit. You thought that was cute before, huh? It seems like the most likely season is 50 games, which would be wild. Stats like steals are going to be so very hard to manufacture. I’d suggest streaming rabbits against pitchers that can be run on from the jump, to be honest. Here are the worst pitchers when it came to stolen bases yielded per inning in 2019.
| Name | Team | SB | Inn | SB/Inn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wade Davis | COL | 14 | 42.2 | 0.33 |
| Miguel Castro | BAL | 18 | 73.1 | 0.25 |
| Adam Ottavino | NYY | 15 | 66.1 | 0.23 |
| Noah Syndergaard | NYM | 42 | 197.2 | 0.21 |
| Kenley Jansen | LAD | 13 | 63 | 0.21 |
| Chris Devenski | HOU | 13 | 69 | 0.19 |
| Blake Snell | TBR | 15 | 107 | 0.14 |
| Yu Darvish | CHC | 24 | 178.2 | 0.13 |
| Drew Smyly | – – – | 15 | 114 | 0.13 |
| Trevor Cahill | LAA | 13 | 102.1 | 0.13 |
| Kevin Gausman | – – – | 13 | 102.1 | 0.13 |
| Jacob deGrom | NYM | 24 | 204 | 0.12 |
| Adrian Houser | MIL | 13 | 111.1 | 0.12 |
| Jordan Zimmermann | DET | 12 | 112 | 0.11 |
| Spencer Turnbull | DET | 14 | 148.1 | 0.09 |
| Jason Vargas | – – – | 14 | 149.2 | 0.09 |
| Anibal Sanchez | WSN | 15 | 166 | 0.09 |
| Jake Arrieta | PHI | 12 | 135.2 | 0.09 |
| Julio Teheran | ATL | 15 | 174.2 | 0.09 |
| Sonny Gray | CIN | 14 | 175.1 | 0.08 |
| Martin Perez | MIN | 13 | 165.1 | 0.08 |
| Jeff Samardzija | SFG | 14 | 181.1 | 0.08 |
| Stephen Strasburg | WSN | 16 | 209 | 0.08 |
| Jakob Junis | KCR | 13 | 175.1 | 0.07 |
| Reynaldo Lopez | CHW | 13 | 184 | 0.07 |
- No shock here, Syndergaard is baaad at holding runners. He won’t be pitching but any Mets SP is generally a good bet to give up SBs. Even Jacob deGrom.
- Plenty of Nationals SPs give up steals, as well. I guess load up on Marlins and Phillies.
- Yu Darvish doesn’t seem to give a Fukudome about holding runners. He’s never been great at it but last season was particularly bad. That could be a factor of his decreased walk rate and shifted focus on the batter at hand.
- Blake Snell is another guy that had a jump in SB/Inn. His delivery has been something he’s had to work hard to refine over the last few seasons. This could be another case of shifted focus. Should Snell’s sore arm act up that may require even more focus on repeating his delivery.
- I pointed out in the catcher side of this that the Tigers backstop options after Austin Romine don’t do a great job at defending steals. With a jam-packed schedule that probably means more games for back up catchers and shots at the Tigers shaky SPs.
- The relievers on this list may not be able to do much for us on this. Maybe if their team has someone starting the game that also lets runners take a base it can be a boost.
