Hello y’all, and welcome to another stolen base SAGNOF Wednesday by yours truly TheGreatKnoche. I hope everyone is still active and alive in their sweet leagues as we reach the 1/4 pole in the season. For me, I do very well in Draft Champions Leagues and RCLs, except for the Perts League, and very poorly in my other weekly FAAB leagues.
Today, we’re going to dive right in and deep AJ Ewing, the young Mets shortstop who has taken over for LouBob in Center Field. Will you be the real deal for SAGNOF? Or as a Tiktok habit I stole the title of the article from more like getting my wife up for 37 seconds? Let’s find out.
So what do we know about this child?
However, he is 21 years old and was a 4th round pick back in 2023. He struggled in rookie ball and hitting Low-A for average in 2024, but something clicked last year when he saw ball, and AJ started hitting. Starting with the K-Rate, in 2024, he hit 28.5% of his at-bats, but in 2025, he dropped it to 18.8%. The rate of travel is also down, but still very good at 12.1%. This tells me that he is putting more balls in play in the pitcher’s statistics and still seeing well.
His batting average in 2024 was just .233 with a BABIP sitting at .318. Fast forward again to 2025, and the .315 BA comes with a .392 BABIP. He’ll likely settle for less than this high-water mark, but he has the speed to support the highest BABIP at the MLB level.
How fast are you? Well, he hasn’t qualified in Statcast yet, but the number so far is showing at 29.2 FT/sec, and I think he’s getting a little higher. That would put him in the top 20 in MLB in rushing. In terms of stolen bases, he stole just 13 in 382 plate appearances in 2024 (caught 6 times), but let go last year, stealing 70 in 2025 (caught just 11 times). Personally, I think the Mets need to fire their Low-A coaching staff starting in 2024. Oh wait, they did before the 2025 season. Of those 70 stolen bases in 2025, 14 were in Low-A ball in just 81 plate appearances. Training is important.
So far, he’s pitching pretty well every day and has two steals in 31 plate appearances to go along with a home run, and a .304 BA in MLB. The fact that they called him up when they did tells me that this LouBob injury won’t go away, and Ewing will likely be the guy in Center Field for the Mets for the rest of the year, or at least most of it. If he doesn’t compromise in your league and you need a steal, he can certainly add 20-40 to your team by the end of the year.
Here is this week’s Stealth Base Leaderboard
Jose Ramirez said I’m not old enough to steal four bases this week. His fastball is actually now below the MLB average at 27.3 Ft/sec, and he is still tied for the MLB lead in steals with 20 and has only been caught twice. The ability to read pitchers and jumps plays a big role in stealing bases too!
Speed Dials
0 for 6 so far this year, hoping to get on board soon.
Wednesday, May 20 – Brewers vs Cubs
David Hamilton – Great SAGNOF game here with Edward Cabrera on the mound for the Cubs. He has the highest SB rate against pitchers in the MLB, allowing a .235 SB/IP and an 85.9% success rate. He will face Brewers and SAGNOF expert David Hamilton and his 29.3 Ft/sec running speed. Hamilton has eight stolen bases so far this season in eleven attempts. Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly are both up the middle in throwing out runners, but Cabrera usually doesn’t give them much of a chance.
Thursday, May 21 – Braves vs Marlins
Ha-Seong Kim – Well, he may have been hitting .053 since returning from his rehab assignment, but it’s only been 21 plate appearances, folks. He hit .233 with 11 home runs and 22 steals in his last extended game in 2024. There will definitely be some rust. We’ll see if he can get a steal against Sandy Alcantara on Thursday. Alcantara couldn’t hold the water in the sea, as 97.2% of the runners on the ground were successful against him. The only reason his SB/IP is .200 and lower than Cabrera’s is because he allowed less traffic. We’ve also mentioned in previous articles that the Marlins’ catchers are some of the worst in MLB at throwing out runners. Of the 67 professional fishermen as of early 2025, Liam Hicks is ranked 61st, and Agustin Ramirez is dead last.
As always, if you want more next week, when we don’t have direct contests, hit me up here or on Twitter @TheGreatKnoche
