Not a lot of low-ownership stolen base threats from the past two weeks. The usual suspects are atop the SB leaderboard in that time:
- 5: Fernando Tatis and Trea Turner
- 4: Randy Arozarena
- 3: Tommy Pham, Tommy Edman, Kyle Tucker, Jean Segura, Cedric Mullins, Brandon Lowe, Whit Merrifield, and Jarred Kelenic
But here are the guys who might be unowned in your league right now. Even though Jurickson Profar is currently owned in 51% of ESPN leagues.
- Jurickson Profar, 2B/OF, SD, 4 SB: The 9 SBs and 27 runs are nice, but the .242 AVG and only 1 HR keep Profar relegated to your bench or UTIL spot most days. I’ll give him some more credit though — Profar has really been hitting well when hitting in the two-hole this year. He’s received 52 ABs there and has a .765 OPS as opposed to the other lineup slot (7th) he’s seen a lot: 56 ABs, .538 OPS. Seven of his last 11 games have been batting 2nd in the lineup — someone might want to tell Jayce Tingler to give him the keys to the Jeter-spot in the lineup. Worth your dime: If he keeps getting starts in the 2nd slot in one of the best lineups in baseball — I think he’s definitely worth the add.
- Jonathan Villar, 2B/SS/3B, NYM, 3 SB: This is the second week in a time in a row I’m shouting out Villar in this column. With the Mets forced to give Villar and the guy who runs the Orange Julius machine some starts in the OF, Villar has actually been hitting pretty well. Since May 18th, Villar has been leading off for the Mets and has 3 HRs, 3 SB, 8 runs, 4 RBI, and an .848 OPS. Worth your dime: Even though the Mets are slowly getting healthy again, I think Villar might have carved out a nice role for himself. Give him an add in 12+ team leagues.
- Kolten Wong, 2B, MIL, 3 SB: With only 5 SBs in the first two months of the season Wong is a little off pace from his career-high of 24 two years ago. Looking at his Statcast numbers it’s pretty clear to see why. While he doesn’t strike out a lot — he’s also not doing a lot of other stuff. Like hitting the ball hard (bottom 22% of the league in average exit velocity) or getting on base (bottom 24% of the league.) His only slightly above-average sprint speed isn’t helping matters. Worth your dime: In 14+ team leagues, yes, but that’s really it. Despite batting lead-off for the Brewers he only has 22 runs, he also only has 2 HRs and 12 RBI.
- Edmundo Sosa, 2B/SS, STL, 2 SB: For someone with a top 2% sprint speed in the league, I was expecting Sosa’s SB totals to be leaping off his stats page. However, his career-high is only 8 back when he was an 18 year old in 2014. Here’s the dirt on Sosa — in 2090 minor league ABs he has a .283/.334/.413 slash line with 44 HRs and 37 SB. His most recent extended stint in AAA was in 2019 when he played 118 games and hit 17 HRs with an .801 OPS — although admittedly this was in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. A fine player, but never a top 100 prospect. However, since my last article on May 18th, Sosa has rediscovered that minor league contact ability in the Cardinals lineup: .341/.431/.455. Worth your dime: In 15+ team and NL-only leagues he could be worth a speculative add. Right now, he’s making the most of the ABs he’s taking from Paul DeJong and his .177 batting average, but all it could take is for PDJ to go on one of his hot streaks and Sosa could find himself riding the pine again.
Minor League Speed Threats to Watch
Stolen bases can be hard to find in the big leagues after the first two weeks of the season. So here are some of the minor league leaders in stolen bases in the upper levels who could help in the SB column if they find themselves on their big league team.
- Yonny Hernandez, TEX AAA, OF: 9 SB, .255/.449/.294. No power. None. Zilch. But he stole 46 bases in 119 games in 2018 and 33 SBs in 122 games in 2019. Along with his 9 SBs this season he also has an 18:9 BB:K ratio. Read that back again so you see the order — twice as many walks as hits. Although he probably won’t debut in 2021 unless something goes terribly wrong in Texas.
- Vidal Brujan, TBR AAA, 2B/SS/OF: 9 SB, .315/.408/.584. Brujan was a top-60 prospect heading into this year, but he might move up to top-30 if he continues slinging this good wood all around the yard. With the Rays trade of Willy Adames, there is an opening in their lineup for Brujan. If he’s still unowned in your league, this might be the time to strike.
- Bryce Johnson, SFG AAA, OF: 8 SB, .341/.439/.473. Johnson isn’t one of the Giants’ top prospects (in fact he’s not even in their top-30 according to MLB.com) but that actually could benefit him because they might not care as much about his service time. Although admittedly he isn’t currently on their 40-man roster. Someone to watch if these improvements stick.
- Edward Olivares, KCR AAA, OF: 7 SB, .395/.473/.654. He was actually called up on May 30th and already has three hits in seven ABs with a SB. In 2019, Olivares had 18 HRs and 35 SBs in 488 AAA ABs. Jorge Soler is hitting .178. Hunter Dozier is hitting .147. Ryan O’Hearn is hitting .189. The ABs are there for the taking.
