Fantasy Baseball Steals Report: Marlins, Athletics can't keep run game in check

As stolen bases continue to rise league wide, I will be here every Wednesday to help you track important stolen base trends so you can find more speed for your fantasy teams.

Stealing a base is as much about the opposing pitcher and catcher as it is the base runner themselves. So, being able to spot which teams and pitchers specifically are being run on most frequently will help you to figure out who can swipe some bags over the next week.

Last week, I highlighted the Mets as a team that’s very difficult to run on and the Twins, Cardinals, and Phillies attempted just three stolen bases against them over the last seven days and were successful twice.

Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Landen Roupp, Kumar Rocker, and Agustín Ramírez

Landen Roupp has true ace potential

• James Schiano,

• James Schiano,

Before we get to this week’s important trends, here is the stolen base leaderboard over the past seven days.

Some of last season’s stolen base leaders Elly De La Cruz, Brice Turang, José Ramírez, and Corbin Carroll had their most aggressive weeks of the season, which was nice to see. It’s surprising to see William Contreras on here, but he did also push himself to nine steals last season.

Also, the recently promoted Luke Keaschall made this list despite only being called up ahead of last weekend’s games. He swiped 23 bags in 102 games between High-A and Double-A last season and is an on-base machine, so he’s an exciting waiver wire option if you need speed.

Now, here is the overall stolen base leaderboard on the season.

Oneil Cruz probably would have been a first round pick if we knew he’d run this much. If only someone had predicted that.

Next, here are some players with one of fewer stolen bases that we’d hoped would be more aggressive.

Now, let’s go over the most important stolen base trends over the past week.

Fantasy Baseball Stolen Base Targets

The Miami Marlins have stormed ahead of the field to become the most stolen-on team in baseball, and by a wide margin. As a team, they’ve allowed 42 steals already this season. The Braves are second with 32 against them.

Last Thursday, the Diamondbacks swiped six bags in one game off them. Carroll took three on his own as he looked to make up for a slow start (on the basepaths) while Pavin Smith, Geraldo Perdomo, and Tim Tawa each chipped in on apiece.

Edward Cabrera was on the mound for six of those eight steals and that was no aberration. He’s been on the mound for eight stolen bases already this season. That is tied for the second most by any pitcher in baseball despite Cabrera making just three starts.

He is slow to the plate, routinely runs a high WHIP, and is allowing the largest secondary leads on average for any starting pitcher. His next two starts are scheduled to come against the Dodgers and Athletics, so plan accordingly.

Besides targeting Cabrera, stolen bases may continue to come relatively easily against the Marlins now that they’ve promoted Agustín Ramírez to be their starting catcher.

Ramírez looks as advertised at the plate, going 5-for-6 with three doubles and stolen base of his own through his first two career starts. Yet, he’s not known as a savvy defender and the Reds went 6-for-6 on stolen base attempts in those two games.

Teams may run at will against this Marlins team this season.

A(’s) Likely Outcome

The Brewers, who are one of the most aggressive base stealing teams, faced off with the Athletics, who are one of the worst teams at stopping the run game, over the weekend and ran completely wild against them.

They stole 11 bases in all during their three-game series including nine in Sunday’s game alone. Seven of those nine steals came with Jeffrey Springs on the mound, who’s allowed the most stolen bases of any pitcher in the league and has proven poor at holding runners on.

Base stealers are averaging an 18.4 foot jump off Springs, which is the largest against any starting pitcher in the league. He’s only attempted four total pick-offs this season and no runner has been caught stealing with him on the mound.

Funny enough, the Brewers opened up an 8-0 lead by the fifth inning and stopped stealing bases after that. So, they were stealing about two bases per inning before shifting into cruise control.

It wasn’t just the usual suspects like Turang and Sal Frelick either. Rhys Hoskins and William Contreras each swiped a bag of their own, showing how easy it truly was.

They stole two more as a team during Friday’s game, but none on Saturday when Luis Severino started. Severino is known to have one of the best pick-off moves in the league and is good at holding runners on.

Springs next start is scheduled to come against the White Sox and the Athletics are also set to play the Rangers over the next week.

Attacking Bullpens

Certain bullpens and specific relievers have been poor at holding runners on. Edwin Díaz is infamous for allowing heaps of stolen bases. Yet, his brother Alexis Díaz may be looking to take that throne.

The Marlins stole a whopping five bases in just an 1 1/3 inning against on Monday. That included the first steals of the season for Jesús Sánchez, Eric Wagaman, and Agustín Ramírez.

A. Díaz has allowed the third-largest secondary leads and fourth-biggest jumps right now while being slow to the plate, just like his brother. He is a full-blown liability in the run game.

It’s difficult to stream stolen bases against relievers because we don’t know when they’re going to pitch, but know that there could be a stolen base explosion if timed correctly.