Razzball nation! We’ve got a bit of a computer nerd pun as our title today for those that observe such things in the land of SAGNOF. Some of you might not remember those old dial-up internet days with the screeching and dinging of phone connections to get you live on the ‘world-wide web’.
Trust me, it’s a lot easier to navigate things now than it used to be with a 1200 baud modem on the Commodore 64. Now pardon me while I grab my wooden cane and Metamucil before I write the rest of this piece for your visual consumption.
Speaking of internet connections, do you know who’s been firing at 1000 GB/s these days? Colorado’s hot outfield prospect, Mr. Nolan Jones.
That’s right. Mr. Jones…and me. He’s gonna be…a big star.
A former top prospect and second round pick (2016) in the Guardians system, Jones was dealt to the Rockies last November for infielder Juan Brito.
It looked like an excellent move for the young OF/3B to unlock his 70-grade raw power potential and provided what seemed like a much clearer path to playing time than he had behind Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan in Cleveland. It looked like a great move for fantasy baseball players too…unless you had him for $1 in your AL-only keeper league like someone I know. (hint: I’m wearing that guy’s socks right now).
Could “Mister Jones” explode on the scene and flourish in that fine, thin, mountain air? Well, that’s what we’re hoping for across the fantasy baseball landscape.
There was some trepidation among those at Razzball HQ about whether or not Bud Black was going to get his wires crossed up, (uh oh, another 90’s internet reference), and mangle yet another promising young prospect’s future. But, as of yesterday’s edit, Jones looks to have done enough to stick around on the MLB roster for the time being.
And for what it’s worth, his spot is well-earned. Jones has gone hitless in just four of his 16 games since the May 26th recall. He’s currently sitting at 4 HR, 12 RBI, 7 R, and a .333/.390/.680 triple slash line over 59 plate appearances.
But for our purposes here, the magic number is 4. As in his league leading 4 steals over the past week.
Is he still available in your leagues? I’d certainly check the free agent list if I were in a shallow 10-teamer. He might even be open for ‘bid-ness’ in some 12-team leagues. He was added by a lot of managers in our 15-team TGFBI leagues two weeks ago, so I assume anyone playing in those kind of groups might have to piece together a trade offer or two if you want to get in on Jones.
I’d address dynasty leagues too, but if you are in that kind of league and no one has him rostered yet…you may want to see if your leaguemates are still coherent and/or still breathing.
I wouldn’t go trading away multiple starting pieces for this guy in a redraft league, but if you can pick him up off the waiver wire or send out some surplus (eg. a mid-tier closer or back end starter) it might be worth a look. Sending out that kind of offer for a young, promising prospect with the lion’s share of playing time (so far) in a very hitter-friendly home park seems like a no-brainer.
There’s no ethernet cable needed to improve the connection with this LAN. Heck, you don’t even need to count crows to know that, “When everybody loves you, ah son, that’s about as funky as you can be”.
So bring out that funk. And go get you some Nolan Jones.
But, wait. Did Nolan Jones’ big week propel him onto our individual steals leaderboard? Let’s have a look.
| NAME | TEAM | STOLEN BASES | CAUGHT STEALING | ON-BASE PERCENTAGE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Esteury Ruiz | Athletics | 31 | 6 | .318 |
| Ronald Acuna Jr. | Braves | 28 | 5 | .399 |
| Wander Franco | Rays | 22 | 5 | .357 |
| Bobby Witt Jr. | Royals | 21 | 5 | .277 |
| Ji-Hwan Bae | Pirates | 19 | 5 | .326 |
| Corbin Carroll | Diamondbacks | 19 | 2 | .397 |
| Starling Marte | Mets | 18 | 3 | .316 |
| Jorge Mateo | Orioles | 18 | 3 | .267 |
| Whit Merrifield | Blue Jays | 17 | 3 | .358 |
| Christian Yelich | Brewers | 16 | 2 | .354 |
Well, it looks like Nolan Jones’ 45-grade speed wasn’t enough to have him crack the top 10 after a couple of weeks of MLB action, but there are some movers and shakers here.
Most notably, our SAGNOF champ is still riding high, as Esteury Ruiz added 2 SB to his league leading total of 31.
Some other notable points of reference: two of the leaders are hovering around a .400 OBP. Ronald Acuna Jr. is sitting at .399 on the year, and Corbin Carroll had a very strong week (.583) to help boost his OBP up to .397.
Speaking of big weeks, the top steals guys from the last 7 days (excluding Nolan Jones) were Elly De La Cruz (4), Michael A. Taylor (3), and a ton of other players with a couple.
Where does this leave our team totals?
| TEAM | GAMES PLAYED | STOLEN BASES | CAUGHT STEALING | +/-
(LAST WEEK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rays | 69 | 89 | 17 | – |
| Pirates | 64 | 70 | 21 | – |
| Reds | 67 | 66 | 19 | – |
| Athletics | 68 | 65 | 16 | – |
| Diamondbacks | 66 | 63 | 12 | – |
| Brewers | 66 | 59 | 14 | – |
| Orioles | 65 | 53 | 12 | +2 |
| Blue Jays | 67 | 53 | 16 | – |
| Guardians | 65 | 52 | 14 | -2 |
| Padres | 65 | 50 | 11 | – |
| Marlins | 67 | 49 | 11 | – |
A quick check in on some of the teams from our chart…
Cincinnati Reds
- Three weeks in a row for Reds info? Hey, don’t come at me or anything. I’m just buying into the Elly De La Cruz hype. This kid is being pumped up by the RazzStaff as much as Jordan Walker was and for good reason. As I mentioned above, EDLC led the league with 4 steals over the last 7 days, and the other skills look eerily similar to his namesake in Pittsburgh (R.I.P. Oneil Cruz).
- One of the seemingly forgotten prospects in the Reds’ kid-friendly youth movement is Spencer Steer. The guy they got back from the Twins (along with Christian Encarnacion-Strand) in the Tyler Mahle trade last year had two SB last week. Imagine having that guy as a $0 keeper prospect in an AL-only league last year, too…
- The Rays are out to a pretty healthy lead in this list, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Reds overtake the Pirates next week.
Baltimore Orioles
- Baltimore is the only team that moved up since last week, leapfrogging the Jays and Guardians to slide into (totally unintentional pun) the 7th spot.
- It would be easy to assume that Jorge Mateo stole a bunch of bags to move the team up, and he did steal two, but the surging Gunnar Henderson had a pair as well.
- Baltimore doesn’t have Cedric Mullins available this week (10 day IL until June 20), so that’s one more set of wheels on the bench.
Some names not on the list from the last 15 days
- This one is more of a merge from both lists here. Guys that produced the last 15 days that don’t appear on the leaderboard individually or in the top teams.
- Jake McCarthy leads all players with 7 SB over the last 15 days.
- Michael A. Taylor has 5 SB over the same frame, good for third in that group (Bobby Witt, Corbin Carroll, Christian Yelich).
- One of our profiles from a couple of weeks ago, Corey Julks, had 4 SB. Romy Gonzalez had 4 as well. Both batting averages, though, would make Minnie Mendoza blush.
And, finally, the teams you’ll want to stream against for the next 7 days. This is the ‘cream of the crap’, so to speak. Apologies, again, to all of you Austins out there.
| TEAM | OPP. SB% | NEXT 7 GAMES | PRIMARY CATCHER | CS% (CS/ATTEMPTS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dodgers | 90.3 | CWS/SF | Austin Barnes | .087 (4/46) |
| Marlins | 90.0 | @SEA/@WSH/TOR | Nick Fortes | .081 (3/37) |
| Pirates | 87.1 | @CHC/@MLW/CHC | Austin Hedges | .147 (5/34) |
| Blue Jays | 85.3 | @BAL/@TEX/@MIA | Alejandro Kirk | .152 (7/46) |
| Royals | 85.1 | CIN/LAA/@DET | Salvador Perez | .138 (4/29) |
- The Dodgers catching duo is like choosing between a kick in the groin or a boot to the nose. Neither one is particularly appealing. Will Smith’s numbers are .079 or 3/38 in CS/SBO.
- Jacob Stallings and Nick Fortes are pretty close to the Dodgers as far as “firing in futility” is concerned…Stallings is at .121 or 4/33 in CS/SBO.
- The Pirates running Austin Hedges out there every week must infuriate Endy Rodriguez or Henry Davis owners to no end. When will they call up one of their kids to take over behind the dish!? (I say with the complete bias of rostering Endy in our Razzslam league).
We’ll finish with the profile of the week. In these, I’ll reference the Hittertron SB$ value here just so you can see what kind of roto-dollars the guy is projected to earn over the next 7 days.
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.
Dairon Blanco – OF – K.C. ($0.9 – 17th ranked OF for SB$)
It was our Blurbstomp writer, @hugedays, that first mentioned this guy in our writers’ group when the “White Iron” was called up. I will admit that despite being in a pretty deep AL-only league, I had no idea who this guy was.
WHO'S HOTTER THAN DAIRON BLANCO?! ?
He drives in 2 runs with this absolute laser to right! pic.twitter.com/1aknkaC1O5
— Omaha Storm Chasers (@OMAStormChasers) June 11, 2023
“Must be a super young, NL-only prospect” was what I assumed. And I was really wrong on both fronts.
Dairon is not new to Da-Beisbol. The 30 YEAR OLD minor leaguer spent a majority of his younger days playing in Cuba and is now a member of the Kansas City Royals.
For a full breakdown, I’ll link you to the boss’s writeup from Tuesday, where he made Blanco his lede and highlighted his skill.
Not to step on any toes, or reiterate what Grey said, but I wanted to draw attention to what I thought of when I looked at the baseball reference page Monday night, too.
The speedy outfielder immediately made me think of Jarrod Dyson, and also immediately made me fear for Edward Olivares’ playing time. That’s something that anyone who rostered Olivares last season is all too familiar with.
A guy with off-the-charts wheels, multiple minor league seasons of double digit steals, and a couple of AAA SB titles to his name? Be still my SAGNOF heart!
This guy stole 29 bases at the age of 25 in the Cuban National Series, swiped 22 bags at age 28 in his first season in the U.S. (A+ California league/Oakland affiliate), then stole 33 the following year at AA.
Big deal? He also stole 41 bases between AA-AAA in 2021. In 117 games. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
But wait, there’s more! In 2022, his age 29 season, he set an Omaha Storm Chasers record by stealing 45 bases in 107 games.
This year Blanco topped even last year’s output by stealing 47 bags in 49 games played.
That’s not a typo. I checked it three times.
Like I said earlier, Grey wrote him up in yesterday’s post so I’ll leave the rest of it alone. The bottom line for this guy is if you need steals and want to cast your fishing line out into the deep league waters for a SAGNOF difference maker, there are worse players to snag than a guy that has such a huge track record in the steals department and not a lot of talent ahead of him in the outfield. For the record, Jackie Bradley Jr. was the sacrificial lamb upon Blanco’s recall.
He looks like he’s worth a couple of bucks in a FAAB bid. The speed is there. The minor league contact looks solid too as Blanco has a .288 minor league batting average with a .356 OBP.
The power? Well…let’s just give him some at-bats and see if he can…iron that flaw out with some consistent playing time.
- But before we go, as one of the resident RazzDads, I think I would be remiss to not wish all of the Big Papis out there a very Happy Father’s Day this weekend. May your barbecues be smoking hot and your beers be ice cold!
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!
