Happy Wednesday, Razzballeroos. It’s your favorite part-time writer over here at Razzball, back with a little more SAGNOF knowledge as I look to find you some players that may be under the radar when it comes to boosting your stolen base numbers.
Today we are going to give you a quick profile on Guardians OF Kahlil Watson. He was called up in June when Chase Delauter hit the IL and has stayed up and earned regular playing time.
Watson is a former first round pick of the Marlins in 2021 and really struggled to begin his career in the minors, posting just a .216 BA in 2023 in Single-A and a .220 in 2024 in Double-A. He was able to raise that in 2025 to .250 in AAA. His problems at the plate stem from a very high strikeout rate, which wasn’t under 25% at any stop in the minors. He was able to counter that somewhat with a walk rate that never dipped below 11%. So far in 89 plate appearances in MLB, the K-rate problems have continued as he is striking out 36% of the time, but the walks haven’t, as he is only at 3.4%. I would think both of those normalize toward his minor league historical averages as we go along.
His power has been steady at all levels, but not elite. He limits soft contact extremely well as well. What has really changed in 2026 is that coaches both at AAA and MLB have let him run more. He has 24 stolen bases this season over roughly 350 plate appearances. The Sprint speed is above average at 28.2 Ft/Second.
I don’t think Watson is ever going to be an elite major league player, but as long as he’s got playing time, he is a great SAGNOF option. He has a really good arm to go with the speed, so the defensive appeal is there in the OF. The biggest question is going to be what the Guardians do when Angel Martinez comes back. I would think Petey Halpin gets sent back down and Watson slides into the everyday CF role. If that happens, look for the walks to normalize and the steals to continue. Watson will continue to be a viable everyday stolen base threat.
It’s Elementary!
Here’s this week’s Stolen Bases Leaderboard
The Speed Dials
0 for 1 last article, and now 3 for 14 on the season. These are correctly predicting Stolen Base streamers on exact days. We’re only looking at a couple of days, but you can do this anytime you set your lineups.
Wednesday, July 22nd – Brewers vs Mets
Luis Lara – It’s possible he’s not available after his well hyped call-up, but he’s been on the bench about 50% of the time and could be out there as his roster level indicates. With Sal Frelick on the IL now, he should be in RF almost every day. Limited numbers so far, but sprint speed at 27.9 Ft/Sec, and I would guess that goes up. He stole 24 bases in the first half of the season in AAA before his call-up. He’ll face Christian Scott and the Mets today. Scott has allowed two stolen bases already in just 13 innings pitched. Luis Torrens is third overall in the catcher throwing leaderboard, but Francisco Alvarez has been catching Scott, and he is in the bottom third.
Thursday, July 23rd – Tigers vs Royals
James Outman – The Tigers don’t run often. A.J. Hinch never has, but we’ll take a shot here with James Outman against another lightly used pitcher the last few seasons in Randy Dobnak. Dobnak has allowed two stolen bases so far in fourteen innings pitched. Carter Jensen has been great behind the dish for the Royals and is fifth on the catcher throwing leaderboard. Outman runs at 28.0 Ft/Second and has six stolen bases on eight chances so far this year. Not bad for a guy hitting .159.
As always, if you’re looking for anything further out for next week, where we don’t have exact pitching match-ups, hit me up here or on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche
[Jose Caballero and Jose Ramirez having nearly identical lines, shuts computer, throws computer out window]
Lol. Don’t go look at Josh Naylor and Otto Lopez
Haha, ugh