Stolen Base Splits

[fantasybaseballfan1]

I have a few players on my team who are only going to help me in stolen bases - Kenny Lofton, Dave Roberts, and possibly Kaz Matsui. I know that Roberts only steals against righties because he only plays against righties but I don't know anything about when to put in Lofton or Matsui. Are there any websites or pieces of data that would be useful for determining when to play these specialists?

[tianyi86]

Just open their yahoo page and check splits.

Lofton runs primarily against righties as well. Matsui is the same way and he steals mainly at home.

[Niffoc4]

Most players generally steal better against righties (for obvious reasons)... I would say with any of those guys it is a safe bet that they will steal more often at a better percentage against righties than lefties. I don't know of any home/away advantage...

[stumpak]

The most perponderent influence on this is OBP. That is the split you want to look at. If a guy has a .250 OBP against LHPs and a .400 OBP against RHs, it stands to reason that he will get a lot more SB attempts against RHPs. As mentioned above, there are other fators, but these are more marginal than OBP, which is the primary driver.

[frankadelic]

Caught-stealing percentages for catchers last year:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fie ... tealingPct

VMart, for example, gives up a lot of SBs. If your speed guys are starting against Cleveland, you may want to give them the nod.

Pitchers are also a factor. Wakefield gets stolen on because the knuckleball is slower and is often dropped by the catcher. The stats are out there.

I paid attention to this stuff last year but it's rather time consuming. If your league settings emphasize steals, it may be worth it.

[wrveres]

Caught-stealing percentages for catchers last year:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fie ... tealingPct

VMart, for example, gives up a lot of SBs. If your speed guys are starting against Cleveland, you may want to give them the nod.

Pitchers are also a factor. Wakefield gets stolen on because the knuckleball is slower and is often dropped by the catcher. The stats are out there.

I paid attention to this stuff last year but it's rather time consuming. If your league settings emphasize steals, it may be worth it.

exactly .. LH vs. RH starters is important sure, but more so, knowing who is catching the game is key