Ben Revere: “The Steals are Coming”
Jul 2, 2014; Miami, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Ben Revere (2) heads to third base during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The title of this article is a very poor allusion to Paul Revere’s famous night ride, but it also contains a slight inaccuracy. In the case of Ben Revere, the steals are not coming; they have more than already arrived. Revere averages exactly one steal per 3.4 games played in his MLB career, which works out to approximately 47.65 steals per 162 games.
Ben Revere stole a career-best 49 bases in 2014 when he coincidentally played in a career-best 151 games. He also provided a major plus to his fantasy owners with a .302 average and scored a fairly respectable 71 runs in a poor Philadelphia Phillies offense.
Sure, Revere is non-existent in homers and RBI’s, but he is a very productive fantasy baseball player due to his frequent base stealing. In fact, ESPN considered Ben Revere as the 22nd best player according to their Player Rater, but his performance is clearly skewed by his stolen bases that are many standard deviations above the mean. A whopping 5.62 points of Revere’s 9.18 Player Rating is due to his major contributions in steals.
If you are interested in learning more about some of my assumed intricacies of the ESPN Player Rater, then feel free to check out my article about Jose Altuve and the Player Rater here. I personally think it is one of the most interesting articles I have written because it explains how you should be wary of ESPN’s Player Rater when evaluating players with lots of steals.
After my digression, I will get back on track by mentioning that Ben Revere’s 2014 numbers are pretty similar to Billy Hamilton’s production. The only difference is that Ben Revere was not a top 75 draft pick. Revere was a free agent pickup in most leagues.
The lesson here is that you should not pay a premium for steals. While they are certainly an important category, an abundance of steals can often be picked up on the waiver wire. In 2014, Rajai Davis, Jarrod Dyson, Denard Span, Alcides Escobar, and Leonys Martin all finished in the top ten in stolen bases along with Revere. None of these players went within the first 200 draft picks in most leagues.
I personally targeted Rajai Davis late in the draft last year for cheap steals and it paid off. Like Ben Revere, Davis is an excellent choice to acquire steals because you will get a similar output to a “premier” base stealer without the cost.
Steals are almost a necessity to any good fantasy baseball team, but they can be easily acquired for very cheap as there are usually a few free agent outfielders each year who will steal at least 30 or 40 bags. In 2014, Ben Revere stayed pretty healthy and took 49 bases for his fantasy owners, and I am willing to bet that he will be around for a good while on your draft day next season.
Note: Coming into 2014, Ben Revere had the most at-bats of any active position player without a home run. He hit a career-high two home runs this year and now trails Barry Bonds by 760 career homers.