From Buster Olney’s blog last week:
Fantasy Baseball: Sleeper No More-Juan Pierre
6. There's a lot of talk in Arizona already about how the White Sox intend to run like crazy on the bases this year.
On the ESPN Fantasy Podcast last week, Olney predicted Juan Pierre to steal 65-70 bases this year. I think he could reach that total, especially after stealing 30 in a reserve role in Los Angeles in 2009.
In 2009, Pierre reached based 140 times and attempted 42 steals, stealing 30 bases. So, he attempted to steal 30% of the time he reached base last year. The last time Pierre was a regular was in 2007, where he had 664 at bats and reached base 197 times. In 2007, he stole 64 bases in 79 attempts, so he attempted a steal about 40% of the time he reached base.
Pierre doesn’t walk alot, but make contact around 90% of the time and hits a ground ball around 50% of his at bats. Those are perfect stats for a guy with Pierre’s speed.
Look for Pierre to eclipse 60 steals in 2010, and hope fantasy owners forget about him on draft day. Let your fellow owners draft Jacoby Ellsbury or Carl Crawford in the early rounds of your draft while you draft a power hitter, and draft Pierre several rounds later.
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