Last season just six players had 40 or more stolen bases. Fantasy baseball sleeper Jarrod Dyson has just 37 at-bats this season and could still top that mark. With stolen bases at a premium in most leagues, Dyson is stepping into an increasingly larger role and could be a massive help to teams struggling to get their speed numbers up.
The Royals came into the season fully expecting Jeff Francoeur to be their everyday right fielder. They didn’t account for the fact that Francoeur’s production dropped from his surprise year in 2011 (.285 BA, 20 HR, 87 RBI, 77 R, 22 SB) to .235 BA, 16 HR, 49 RBI, 58 R, and four steals in 2012. Not surprisingly, Francoeur is playing even worse than last season, owning a .221/.258/.311 line with just one homer, nine RBI, and 12 runs. With the Royals in legitimate contention, at least right now, the team doesn’t plan to sit around and watch Francoeur stink it up the rest of the season.
Enter Jarrod Dyson, one of the fastest players in the Majors today. Dyson has never been a big get. Even coming out in the draft, he was a 50th round selection out of Southwest Junior College. He’s spent most of his time since 2001 in the minors where he struggled to stay healthy and never played more than 93 games in a season. At 5’9” and 160 lb., he doesn’t have the physical attributes to be a big time hitter. But Dyson can flat out fly.
Though he’s only played a total of 403 games in the minors since 2001, he has 176 stolen bases throughout his minor league career. Playing over 100 games for the first time in his career, Dyson stole 30 bases for the Royals last season in just 330 plate appearances. This season he has only appeared in 17 games and already has six steals. If stealing bases were a crime, Jarrod Dyson would be looking at consecutive life sentences.
As far as five category players go, Dyson is far from one. He has just two home runs in his 163-game Major League career and managed just nine RBI in 292 at-bats in 2012. His ability to hit for average is questionable but seems to be improving. He owns a career .280/.348/.352 line in the minors, averaging a consistent .270-.280 each season. Though he struggled to hit in his first two short stints in the Majors, he batted a passable .260 last season and is batting .270 this year. He won’t help you in the category but he doesn’t look like the type of guy that will hurt you either.
So should you run out and get a guy with a passable average for help in the steals and runs categories? Yes, but only because Dyson has the potential to not simply help your steals category, he can flat out dominate it. Dyson consistently put up 38-46 steals in his minor league seasons and certainly showed plenty of ability to steal in the Majors as he swiped 30 in just 102 games, starting just 81 of them.
With Jeff Francoeur’s role diminishing and Dyson getting more chances to start, now is the time to snatch up Dyson and bask in the speedy goodness. He likely won’t start against lefties, owning a .186 career average against southpaws, but odds are he will get most of the starts against righties moving forward. As he has shown before, even a 292 at-bat Jarrod Dyson can steal 30, imagine what he can do with 400.
