The Year’s Best Minor-League Base-Stealers, Feat. Billy Burns

by
July 29, 2014

Last year, then-Washington outfield prospect Billy Burns produced the most stolen-base runs among every minor-league player in the whole minor leagues — about 12 of them, it would appear, using the major-league linear-weight values for stolen bases and caught stealings*.

*Caughts stealing?

Now employed by the Oakland franchise — and, indeed, having been promoted to that organization’s parent club just yesterday — the 24-year-old Burns once again appears atop (or very nearly atop) the minor-league leaderboard for stolen-base runs.

Regard, the top-10 basestealers by that measure, through yesterday:

# Name Org Age PA SB CS wSB
1 Rafael Bautista Nationals (A) 21 394 57 8 8.3
2 Billy Burns Athletics (AA) 24 421 51 5 8.3
3 Mallex Smith Padres (A/A+) 21 434 71 22 5.8
4 Jose Peraza Braves (A+/AA) 20 451 55 14 5.6
5 Jacob Hannemann Cubs (A/A+) 23 405 35 4 5.5
6 Delino DeShields Astros (AA) 21 375 43 9 5.1
7 Gilberto Mejia Mexican (AAA) 31 436 41 8 5.1
8 Terrance Gore Royals (A+) 23 264 32 4 4.9
9 John Andreoli Cubs (AA) 24 252 28 2 4.8
10 Jacob May White Sox (A+) 22 438 37 7 4.7

Notably, two other players appear here after having appeared among last year’s top-10 list, as well: both Terrance Gore and Jose Peraza — of Kansas City and Atlanta, respectively.

As for Burns himself, Oakland manager Bob Melvin has stated that he’ll likely start in center field against lefties — this, according to MLB.com Jane Lee.

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Carson Cistulli has published a book of aphorisms called Spirited Ejaculations of a New Enthusiast.

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nard
11 years ago

Instagraphs: Because all your pageviews count the same.

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