Winning the stolen bases category is not every fantasy baseball owner’s forte. Dee Gordon isn’t walking through that door for many owners, so finding stolen bases may seem like a lost opportunity at this part of the season.

Not so fast my friend.

Gordon wasn’t a draft pick last season. Hardly any fantasy baseball owner had Gordon on their radar, until he went crazy on the base paths and became the common denominator to a fantasy baseball team winning the stolen bases category.

There’s still an opportunity to find players on the waiver wire who can swipe a bag or two.

Billy Burns

Billy must be a fast person’s name. Other than Billy Butler, doesn’t it seem like people named Billy just run faster? At least one other Billy – Billy Hamilton – is the second-best base stealer in MLB and isn’t available on the waiver wire.

Oakland A’s outfielder Billy Burns is likely still available in most fantasy baseball leagues, and he’s 23rd in MLB in stolen bases with seven on the year. The deceiving part of that stat is that Burns has played in only 24 games this season, far less than many other players on that list.

Oakland is not very good, but Burns is still their lead-off hitter, meaning he will get plenty of opportunities at the plate. So far this year, he’s batting .302 with 13 runs. In his last 12 games, he has five stolen bases. In his last seven games, he’s batting .320 with a .393 on-base percentage.

He’s getting on base, offering him opportunities at runs and stolen bases.

Nori Aoki

It’s unbelievable that San Francisco outfielder Nori Aoki is still on the waiver wire in several fantasy baseball leagues.

Aoki is seventh in Major League Baseball with 11 stolen bases and has a .326 batting average to go with a .398 on-base percentage. Did we mention he also has 22 runs this season? That’s not even the best of what Aoki has shown.

In the past week, Aoki has been hot, to say the least.

Aoki is batting .560 with a .593 on-base percentage in his last six games. Those aren’t even high school numbers. Those sound more like the mustached-kid in Little League.

Those numbers won’t continue, and he has shown a little power this season, which also won’t continue. But he will continue to get on base and will attempt to steal bases. If your fantasy baseball team is having difficulties in not just stolen bases, but batting average, on-base percentage or runs, then Aoki should have been off the waiver wire long ago.

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