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