For no reason in particular, I haven’t played Daily Fantasy Sports other than a random Sunday/Monday early in the NFL season, so I can’t give my opinion on whether or not I enjoy the format compared to season-long leagues.

However, I looked at how scoring is kept for baseball on a random Daily Fantasy Sports website and I noticed that a disproportionate amount of points are given to players who get stolen bases.

This lends itself to a lot of strategy, and this could be old news to some who play Daily Fantasy Sports, but there is an appreciable amount of inequity present among teams and individual players when it comes to the rate with which they allow opposing players to steal bases.

This table shows all MLB teams and the rate at which they allowed the opposition to steal bases in 2014:

Team CS% SB SB ATT CS Rockies 16% 85 101 16 Twins 18% 100 122 22 Blue Jays 20% 94 118 24 Athletics 22% 100 128 28 Braves 22% 100 129 29 Astros 23% 109 141 32 Mets 23% 85 110 25 Marlins 24% 109 143 34 Rays 24% 82 108 26 Cubs 25% 114 152 38 White Sox 26% 93 125 32 Padres 26% 116 156 40 Brewers 27% 96 131 35 Angels 27% 106 145 39 Red Sox 28% 87 120 33 Mariners 28% 92 127 35 Orioles 28% 84 116 32 Phillies 29% 115 161 46 Royals 30% 69 98 29 Rangers 30% 85 121 36 Giants 31% 107 154 47 Dodgers 31% 86 124 38 Diamondbacks 31% 75 109 34 Pirates 31% 107 156 49 Tigers 31% 111 162 51 Indians 32% 95 139 44 Yankees 33% 77 115 38 Reds 35% 71 109 38 Cardinals 35% 54 83 29 Nationals 38% 60 96 36

To put it in a general perspective, the team that prevented stolen bases the most — the Nationals — stopped the opposition from stealing a base at a rate of over two and a quarter times more than the last place team — the Rockies.

These numbers are a fluid situation from year-to-year. For example, the Blue Jays were one of the worst teams against stolen bases in 2014, but that was before they acquired Russell Martin, who will play behind the plate the majority of the time in 2015. Martin was 10th in CS% in 2014.

Catch as Catchers Can’t

To take advantage of this knowledge even further, we can look at individual players that are ineffective when it comes to their ability to throw out runners:

Player Team CS+ CS% SB AT Josmil Pinto MIN 0% 0% 20 20 Eric Fryer MIN 21% 6% 16 17 Tomas Telis TEX 21% 6% 16 17 John Jaso OAK 40% 11% 32 36 Yasmani Grandal SDP 45% 13% 49 56 Adrian Nieto CHW 50% 14% 25 29 Nick Hundley - - - 51% 14% C 36 Tony Sanchez PIT 52% 14% 18 21 Steve Clevenger BAL 55% 15% 17 20 John Baker CHC 56% 15% 50 59 Josh Thole TOR 56% 15% 22 26 Wilin Rosario COL 58% 16% 37 44 Derek Norris OAK 61% 17% 60 72 A.J. Pierzynski - - - 66% 18% 50 61 Michael McKenry COL 69% 19% 34 42 Jarrod Saltalamacchia MIA 70% 19% 72 89 Travis d'Arnaud NYM 71% 19% 58 72 Evan Gattis ATL 72% 20% 53 66 Dioner Navarro TOR 75% 21% 58 73 Ryan Hanigan TBR 77% 21% 30 38 Carlos Corporan HOU 80% 22% 25 32 David Ross BOS 80% 22% 32 41 Jason Castro HOU 80% 22% 81 104 Chris Stewart PIT 84% 23% 30 39 Curt Casali TBR 86% 24% 13 17 Hank Conger LAA 87% 24% 57 75 Kurt Suzuki MIN 90% 25% 64 85 A.J. Ellis LAD 91% 25% 48 64 Tony Cruz STL 91% 25% 18 24 Erik Kratz - - - 91% 25% 18 24 Francisco Cervelli NYY 91% 25% 18 24 Jonathan Lucroy MIL 94% 26% 83 112 Devin Mesoraco CIN 95% 26% 51 69 Gerald Laird ATL 98% 27% 30 41 Jose Molina TBR 98% 27% 38 52 Carlos Ruiz PHI 100% 27% 74 102 Mike Zunino SEA 103% 28% 71 99 Miguel Montero ARI 105% 29% 64 90 Tyler Flowers CHW 108% 30% 62 88 Buster Posey SFG 108% 30% 59 84 Bryan Holaday DET 108% 30% 33 47 Chris Iannetta LAA 109% 30% 49 70 Wil Nieves PHI 110% 30% 23 33 Salvador Perez KCR 111% 30% 57 82 Hector Sanchez SFG 113% 31% 31 45 Martin Maldonado MIL 115% 32% 13 19 Yan Gomes CLE 116% 32% 66 97 Andrew Susac SFG 116% 32% 17 25 Drew Butera LAD 118% 32% 23 34 Jose Lobaton WSN 118% 33% 27 40 Jeff Mathis MIA 119% 33% 33 49 Welington Castillo CHC 120% 33% 57 85 Christian Bethancourt ATL 121% 33% 10 15 Alex Avila DET 122% 34% 71 107 Rene Rivera SDP 132% 36% 58 91 Roberto Perez CLE 132% 36% 14 22 Anthony Recker NYM 135% 37% 17 27 Brian McCann NYY 135% 37% 49 78 Wilson Ramos WSN 136% 38% 30 48 Russell Martin PIT 140% 39% 59 96 Cameron Rupp PHI 142% 39% 11 18 Robinson Chirinos TEX 145% 40% 44 73 Caleb Joseph BAL 147% 40% 34 57 Tuffy Gosewisch ARI 153% 42% 11 19 Brayan Pena CIN 156% 43% 16 28 Geovany Soto - - - 158% 43% 13 23 Tim Federowicz LAD 158% 43% 13 23 Yadier Molina STL 174% 48% 23 44 Christian Vazquez BOS 188% 52% 14 29

This chart shows all catchers who had 15 or more stolen-base attempts against in 2014.

CS+ shows how much better or worse a catcher is than the league average when it comes to the rate at which they throw out runners, where 100 is average. For example, Yasmani Grandal has a CS+ of 45%, which means he is 55% worse than league average at throwing out runners.

This chart provides a number of names that Daily Fantasy Baseball players can take advantage of.

For one, Nick Hundley is slated to take a lot of at-bats for the Rockies, and he threw out runners at a rate 49% worse than league average in 2014.

The inverse also applies. While Christian Vazquez appears to be out for the year with in arm injury, Daily Fantasy players that consider a speedster as an option against the Cardinals may need to think twice before they do so, as Yadier Molina threw out runners 74% better than league average last year.

Yadier Molina Photo Credit: Barbara Moore