The calendar has flipped to July. The craziness that is fantasy baseball is at its halfway point. Most teams that still have a chance to win something are heavily involved, and everyone else is blowing fingers off, lighting firecrackers while reading Fantasy Football content here at Razzball.
I don’t have a specific lead player to target this week. Taking a toned-down approach and just looking at the Speed Dials. Nobody new getting called up or coming off the waiver wire really tripped my trigger. Plus, if you don’t know that you should have picked up MLB stolen base leader Jose Caballero by now, you’re probably missing some fingers.
I will say that this has been a more difficult season than normal to play the SAGNOF game, as most of the top 20 stolen base guys on the leaderboard below were drafted and have been rostered outside of that guy at the top and Chandler Simpson.
So let’s just get you the data and some guys to target this week and get everyone back to their beer, brats, and pasta salad.
Here’s the current Stolen Base Leader Board through Monday, June 30th
The Speed Dials
We went 0 for 4 last week, now 6 for 30 on the season. Picked up our 5th Home Run – go figure, and our 7th CS on these. So we’ve had guys running just not as high of a success rate as I would like to see.
Remember, these are specific stolen base streaming targets for specific days where the player is owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues. All stats represent both the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined.
Rays vs Athletics – Tuesday, July 1st
Chandler Simpson – He is still only rostered at 14%, although that number is likely higher anywhere with halfway decent owners. He is 5th in MLB in sprint speed and is 22 for 26 stealing bases successfully on the steal happy Rays. He’ll face lefty, but prime stolen base target Jeffrey Springs, who allows a 95.% rate against him and .168 SB/IP. Shea Langeliers recently returned from the IL and ranks in the bottom third of catcher throwing metrics.
Brewers vs Mets – Wednesday, July 2nd
Sal Frelick- He is now 33 of 38 stealing bases the last two seasons and on pace for 30 this year alone. He isn’t completely devoid of power, is hitting .300, and provides decent counting stats. Frelick should be rostered more than his 28.9%, but he’s not so here he is on the Speed Dials. He will get youngster Blade Tidwell on the hill,l who has a .187 SB/IP in his limited experience. Luis Torrens takes over as the Mets primary backstop now, and he is #2 in catcher throwing stats, so it might be a little more difficult to run on the Mets than it was with Francisco Alvarez.
Angels vs Braves – Thursday, July 3rd
Zach Neto – Neto has been day to day with a jammed shoulder, but has been pinch hitting and played in the field Monday night, so he should be good to go by Thursday. He has 13 stolen bases on the year, but is only succeeding 65% of the time. His sprint speed is slightly above average at 28.1 Ft/Sec. He’ll face Bryce Elder, who allows .145 SB/IP and an 85% success rate against. Both Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy throw well enough to land in the top half of catching metrics, but neither is elite.
Brewers vs Marlins – Friday, July 4th
Sal Frelick – Yes, I get it. I am using him twice. Why? Cause he’s facing one of the best pitchers to get steals against here in Sandy Alcantara. He has a .275 SB/IP and hasn’t had a baserunner thrown out trying to run against him in the last two years.
That’s all, folks. Any other questions, hit me up here on or on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche
