Sport Fanatics Fantasy Baseball - Stolen Base Threats

This year we decided to do an article about players who are, or could be, stolen base threats. Stolen bases are included in nearly all of the league formats and we are constantly asked to help people plan their fantasy drafts with some type of information on stolen base leaders and possible stolen base candidates that owners can pick up later in the draft. Unlike batting average, runs and RBI's, stolen bases offers you a somewhat unique ability to rapidly gain in your league standings because it is a category that you can move up in fairly quickly with just a couple of players.

What we have put together is a list of stolen base threats/candidates for the upcoming 2008 season, with a ranking and a tier grouping. Please note, these projections are as of February 23, 2008. We may periodically update the comments section, but this should give you a good idea of where your stolen base options reside. We wrote comments for the top 25 stolen base threat players and then included some comments on the lower ranked players who if given playing time would do well in the SB category.

SB RANK	TIER RANK	PLAYER	TEAM	AGE	POS	SB	SB/PA	Comments
1	1	Jose Reyes	NYM	24.8	SS	68	.096	Best SB threat… by far! Elite player who will go in the first round of any draft format.
2	2	Carl Crawford	TB	26.6	OF	50	.078	Elite player who will go in the late first round or early second round of most drafts.
3	2	Hanley Ramirez	FLA	24.3	SS	47	.070	Elite player who will go in the first round of any draft format. Has past Soriano as the best power/speed player in the game.
4	2	Chone Figgins	ANA	30.2	3B	46	.073	Solid 4-6 round pick. Does not excel in any other category but is fairly consistent.
5	2	Michael Bourn	HOU	25.2	OF	44	.089	First year that he will be a full-time starter. Has potential to put up well over 40 SB's if he gets the plate appearances. No power and limited batting skills are a question mark, but he has blazing speed.
6	2	Juan Pierre	LAD	30.6	OF	42	.079	For the first time in his career, he will have to battle for playing time. Is one dimensional and overrated as a fantasy player. He will go earlier in the drafts then his true value.
7	3	Brian Roberts	BAL	30.4	2B	40	.060	Nice pick in 2B position that only has a couple star players. Helps in other categories, but is not dominate in any of them.
8	3	Willy Taveras	COL	26.2	OF	37	.071	He has no power, but he will bat for a decent batting average. He is sometimes forgotten in drafts, could be a good choice in the middle of the draft.
9	3	Ichiro Suzuki	SEA	34.4	OF	36	.050	Will excel in 3 of the 5 categories. Usually is gone by the fourth or fifth round of most drafts.
10	3	Jimmy Rollins	PHI	29.3	SS	36	.050	Very good all around player with some pop. Will be taken in the mid first or early second round of most fantasy draft formats.
11	4	Shane Victorino	PHI	27.4	OF	33	.062	A little bit of pop in his bat, but he does not excel at anything other than SB's.
12	4	Eric Byrnes	ARI	32.1	OF	33	.052	Had a monster year in 2007, we are expecting a drop off back to his more "normal" stats. Good blend of power and speed.
13	4	Jerry Owens	CHW	27.1	OF	32	.081	Has tremendous speed, but will battle for playing time. If he gets the CF job, he would be worth a later round pick as he would get 40-50 SB's if starting.
14	4	Dave Roberts	SF	35.9	OF	31	.068	Still can get 30+ SB's, but he is aging, playing on a bad team in a pitchers park and has not been guaranteed the full-time starting job. Buyer beware!
15	4	Rafael Furcal	LAD	29.6	SS	31	.048	Had various injuries last season that slowed him down. Expect him to get around 30 SB's and have better all around numbers in 2008.
16	4	Jacoby Ellsbury	BOS	24.7	OF	30	.059	Playing time will determine his success. He is not guaranteed the starting job in CF with Crisp still in BOS.
17	4	B.J. Upton	TB	23.6	OF/2B	29	.046	Last year he finally broke out and showed all his potential. Should be a 30/30 threat for many years to come.
18	5	Carlos Gomez	MIN	22.3	OF	28	.074	Will battle for the starting CF job in MIN. Has terrific speed and if he wins the job could be a legitimate 40 SB threat. Had 31 SB's in 99 major/minor league games last year. 41 SB's in the minors in '06.
19	5	Corey Patterson	ZFA	28.6	OF	28	.068	As of this article was not signed by a team yet. Should get 25 SB's on almost any team he goes to, could do much better depending on where he ends up.
20	5	Julio Lugo	BOS	32.3	SS	28	.047	Like Furcal, we expect better all around numbers from Lugo in 2008 to go along with his predictable 25-30 SB each year.
21	5	Grady Sizemore	CLE	25.6	OF	28	.039	Excellent all around player who will go early in the second round of most fantasy drafts. Has good power and is an excellent run producer.
22	5	Ryan Theriot	CHC	28.3	SS/2B	27	.052	First year where he has a good shot at starting. Very nice pickup later in the draft because he has excellent speed and has 2B/SS eligibility.
23	5	Rickie Weeks	MIL	25.6	2B	27	.047	He will not be an elite player because of his batting average, but we think a 25/25 season is obtainable for Weeks if he puts it all together in 2008.
24	5	Chris Young	ARI	24.6	OF	27	.044	As a rookie last season, he proved that a 30/30 season could be obtainable for many years. His low batting average keeps him out of the top OF tiers.
25	5	Brandon Phillips	CIN	26.8	2B	27	.043	Phillips has put together a couple of good years now and is batting in the middle of the order in CIN. A 25/25 season with high run and RBI numbers is reason to pick him in the 2nd or 3rd round of your draft.
26	5	Rajai Davis	SF	27.5	OF	26	.078	May take some time from Dave Roberts this season, but even if he does will only contribute in the SB category.
27	5	Kaz Matsui	HOU	32.5	2B	25	.052	Looks to have the starting job in HOU this season. Surprised us with 32 SB last season as a part time starter. We think he will back down in 2008 even though he may get more AB's than last year. Prior to last season, the highest SB total he had was 14.
28	5	Alfonso Soriano	CHC	32.2	OF	25	.039
29	5	David Wright	NYM	25.2	3B	25	.037
30	6	Curtis Granderson	DET	27.1	OF	23	.034
31	6	Coco Crisp	BOS	28.4	OF	22	.044
32	6	Jason Bartlett	TB	28.4	SS	22	.039
33	6	Cameron Maybin	FLA	21.0	OF	21	.059	The 21 year old phenom could be FLA starting OF on Opening Day. We think if he even gets over 325 AB this season he could be in the 20 SB range. Excellent keeper/dynasty league player to draft.
34	6	Ryan Freel	CIN	32.0	OF	21	.058	Will battle Norris Hopper and Jay Bruce for the CF job this spring. Freel is versatile and thus should get 300 AB's even if he does not start. Adjust his SB's accordingly if he wins the CF job.
35	6	Johnny Damon	NYY	34.4	OF	21	.036
36	6	Ian Kinsler	TEX	25.8	2B	21	.035
37	6	Bobby Abreu	NYY	34.0	OF	21	.032
38	6	Erick Aybar	ANA	24.2	SS/2B	20	.050	Will battle M. Izturis for the starting SS job in ANA. Has decent speed and if he gets 400 AB could reach 20 SB.
39	6	Corey Hart	MIL	26.0	OF	20	.034
40	7	Nate McLouth	PIT	26.5	OF	19	.046
41	7	Felipe Lopez	WAS	27.9	SS/2B	19	.040
42	7	Luis Castillo	NYM	32.5	2B	19	.033
43	7	Carlos Beltran	NYM	31.0	OF	19	.031
44	7	Ryan Braun	MIL	24.4	3B	19	.030
45	7	Orlando Cabrera	CHW	33.4	SS	19	.029
46	7	Joey Gathright	KC	26.9	OF	18	.058	Terrific speed, no power and limited playing time equal minimal fantasy appeal.
47	7	Matt Kemp	LAD	23.5	OF	18	.034
48	7	Alex Rodriguez	NYY	32.7	3B	18	.027
49	7	Kenny Lofton	ZFA	40.8	OF	17	.040
50	7	Alex Rios	TOR	27.1	OF	17	.026
51	7	Derek Jeter	NYY	33.7	SS	17	.025
52	8	Reggie Willits	ANA	26.8	OF	16	.060	Because of injuries, he was given the chance to play and did quite well. This year he will have limited playing time even if there are injuries as there are 5 OF in front of him on the depth chart.
53	8	Nyjer Morgan	PIT	27.8	OF	16	.060	Terrific speed, no power and limited playing time equal minimal fantasy appeal.
54	8	Alexi Casilla	MIN	23.7	2B	16	.059	Are you seeing a trend here? No power and average (at best) hitting skills. Will battle for playing time, but offers very little outside of SB.
55	8	Mike Cameron	MIL	35.2	OF	16	.032
56	8	Russell Martin	LAD	25.1	C	16	.028
57	8	Josh Anderson	ATL	25.7	OF	15	.058	Has almost no power and with the Kotsay trade may not even make the roster. If he does 12-15 SB's as a pinch runner should be a given as he stole over 40 bases in the minors last year.
58	8	Felix Pie	CHC	23.2	OF	15	.032
59	8	Alex Gordon	KC	24.2	3B/1B	15	.026
60	8	Gary Matthews Jr.	ANA	33.6	OF	15	.025
61	8	Torii Hunter	ANA	32.7	OF	15	.024
62	8	Delmon Young	MIN	22.6	OF	15	.023
63	8	Scott Podsednik	COL	32.0	OF	14	.061	Has been a top SB threat for many years, but now he will have limited playing time and thus little fantasy value.
64	8	Norris Hopper	CIN	29.0	OF	14	.047
65	8	Hunter Pence	HOU	25.0	OF	14	.023
66	8	Nick Markakis	BAL	24.4	OF	14	.021
67	9	Chris Duffy	PIT	28.0	OF	13	.055	Excellent speed, but limited playing time and very little power will limit his fantasy value.
68	9	Omar Vizquel	SF	40.9	SS	13	.023
69	9	Melky Cabrera	NYY	23.7	OF	13	.022
70	9	Eugenio Velez	SF	25.9	2B	12	.071	Excellent speed, but limited playing time and no power will limit his fantasy value.
71	9	Nook Logan	LAD	28.3	OF	12	.061	Excellent speed, but limited playing time and no power will limit his fantasy value.
72	9	Alfredo Amezaga	FLA	30.2	OF	12	.034
73	9	Nick Punto	MIN	30.4	3B/SS/2B	12	.033
74	9	Franklin Gutierrez	CLE	25.1	OF	12	.026
75	9	Lastings Milledge	WAS	23.0	OF	12	.024
76	9	Justin Upton	ARI	20.6	OF	12	.024	Only 20 years old entering the 2008 season. Could develop into one of the elite power/speed combo players with time.
77	9	Asdrubal Cabrera	CLE	22.4	2B	12	.022
78	9	Gary Sheffield	DET	39.3	DH	12	.021
79	9	Tadahito Iguchi	SD	33.3	2B	12	.021
80	9	Edgar Renteria	DET	32.6	SS	12	.020
81	9	Randy Winn	SF	33.8	OF	12	.020
82	9	Carlos Lee	HOU	31.8	OF	12	.018
83	9	Chase Utley	PHI	29.3	2B	12	.018
84	9	Freddy Guzman	DET	27.2	OF	11	.074	Bench Player with terrific speed. He stole 56 bases in the minors last year, but will have a very tough time cracking DET lineup.
85	9	Willie Bloomquist	SEA	30.3	OF/2B/3B/SS	11	.050
86	9	Maicer Izturis	ANA	27.5	3B/2B	11	.028
87	9	Colby Rasmus	STL	21.7	OF	11	.027
88	9	Rocco Baldelli	TB	26.5	OF	11	.027
89	9	Howie Kendrick	ANA	24.7	2B	11	.021
90	9	Akinori Iwamura	TB	29.2	3B	11	.019
91	9	Mark Teahen	KC	26.6	OF	11	.019
92	10	Freddie Bynum	BAL	28.1	OF	10	.053	Very good speed, but limited playing time will limit his fantasy value.
93	10	Tony Gwynn Jr.	MIL	25.5	OF	10	.044
94	10	Jason Pridie	MIN	24.5	OF	10	.041
95	10	Esteban German	KC	30.1	2B/3B	10	.032
96	10	Brendan Ryan	STL	26.0	SS/3B	10	.032
97	10	Daniel Ortmeier	SF	26.9	OF/1B	10	.022
98	10	Carlos Guillen	DET	32.5	1B/SS	10	.017
99	10	Kelly Johnson	ATL	26.1	2B	10	.017
100	10	Orlando Hudson	ARI	30.3	2B	10	.017
101	10	Stephen Drew	ARI	25.1	SS	10	.016
102	10	Vernon Wells	TOR	29.3	OF	10	.016
103	10	Adrian Beltre	SEA	29.0	3B	10	.015
104	10	Matt Holliday	COL	28.2	OF	10	.015

SB/PA: Stolen Bases divided by Plate Appearances (PA). If a player is over .050, then you can consider that player a good stolen base threat if given playing time. A percentage over .070 is an elite speed player.

2007 Fantasy Baseball - Stolen Base Threats