Running prospects 2009

Largely because the draft philosophy has changed under Tim Wilken, the farm system has begun to generate tools and talents that are badly needed at the top of the organization. Two examples are lefthanded pitching and baserunning. At Daytona, for example, the first four batters in the everyday lineup have swiped 115 bases as of 28 July. This page will update minor-league stolen bases weekly for the rest of the season.

July 28th:

The news this week is that Harrison moved into second place in steals, and Campana broke 50.

August 3rd:

The news this week is of course that Harrison was moved.

Apart from Campana, the three highest steals-per-game numbers belong to Boise players Lee, Valdez and Davis, who should move up the list in the next several weeks.

August 10th:

Valdez has passed Lee in steals and steals/game. Valdez became the starting CF at Boise when Jackson moved up.

September 2nd:

Long season for Campana. He has slowed down lately, hitting and running. They go together.

Ranking by steals per game, the leaders are Campana, Lee and Valdez. Then Fuld and Adduci (tied), Jackson, Guyer, Castro.

September 10th:

Campana had a nice end-of-season spurt, hitting and running. He showed a finishing kick.

I’ve done this final ranking according to SB/game, not total steals.

player team games steals caught percent sb/game
Tony Campana Peoria-Daytona 126 66 18 0.79 0.52
Jose Valdez Boise-Peoria 62 25 8 0.76 0.40
Hak-Ju Lee Boise 68 25 8 0.76 0.37
Sam Fuld Iowa 84 23 5 0.82 0.27
James Adduci Tenn 131 35 12 0.74 0.27
Brett Jackson Boise-Peoria 50 13 2 0.87 0.26
Brandon Guyer Tenn-Daytona-Tenn 130 30 7 0.81 0.23
Starlin Castro Daytona-Tenn 127 28 11 0.72 0.22
Logan Watkins Boise 72 14 7 0.67 0.19
Runey Davis Boise 47 8 1 0.89 0.17
Matt Camp Tenn-Iowa 113 19 4 0.83 0.17
Kyler Burke Peoria 132 14 2 0.88 0.11
Tony Thomas Tenn 125 13 13 0.50 0.10