The first month of the fantasy baseball season can be one of the most critical as you embark on your quest for a championship.
It isn’t so much about where you are in the standings today as much as it is about how you position yourself and build your roster for the next few months.
You have to study the statistical trends occurring right now and find ways to capitalize on what is happening before your opponents even realize what you are up to.
Stolen bases, once again, seem to be the best area for you to make your move.
Last season, stolen bases were at an all-time high.
By the end of April 2023, there were 566 stolen bases.
Entering Friday, there were a total of 402 steals, which means the league is surprisingly on pace to beat last year’s totals through the first month. Funny enough though, people still believe steals are down.
There is no one with a double-digit stolen base total and the top burners we were expecting to see atop the leaderboard are nowhere to be found.
This is where you can make your move.
While Brice Turang and Lane Thomas led the league in steals entering Friday, Nico Hoerner and Esteury Ruiz have just two steals between the two of them.
Both players were overdrafted this season because teams that took power and pitching early in drafts wanted to make sure they covered their stolen bases after last year’s explosion.
Hoerner was a fifth-round pick while Ruiz, a one-category contributor, was pushed as high as the sixth round.
Neither have been running and their fantasy owners are growing more and more frustrated by the day.
But their frustration is with the overall player, not their place in the stolen base category because they have found contributions from unexpected sources.
Players like Turang, Thomas, Will Benson and Jose Caballero are keeping them in the hunt within the category, lending a false sense of security that they will be just fine in steals.
But eventually, water finds its own level and these players won’t be enough, so the time to put out those buy-low offers is now.
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Hoerner may not have any stolen bases yet, but his .380 in-base percentage tells us, his opportunities are on their way.
Ruiz, demoted for reasons not related to his on-field performance, may not be a full-time player right now but his level of play forced the team to bring him back and he too will start flying around the basepaths. These players combined for 110 steals last season.
Don’t miss the opportunity to trade for one right now and dominate the category before the end of the first half.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy baseball news and advice.
