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Jon Berti proving to be a steals category winner

Drew Silva examines how Miami Marlins 3B Jon Berti is rebuilding his fantasy value through his base running and contact ability.

Video Transcript

Marlins utility man, Jon Berti, has been a great speed threat for years. But spotty playing time has typically held him back from long-lasting fantasy relevance. Not so this summer. With injuries and COVID scares opening up a path to regular at-bats in Miami, Berti is currently tied for the Major League lead in stolen bases with 18.

And he has racked up 14 of those steals in the month of June alone, all while producing a .308 batting average and .375 on-base percentage across his last 72 plate appearances since the calendar flipped from May. Berti is never going to be a great source of power. He's hit just 14 home runs in his five Major League seasons to date. But he ranks in the 94th percentile in sprint speed. And he's also been getting looks at the very top of the Marlins batting order.

So if you need to play catch up in the steals category, and can also use a little boost of runs and perhaps some batting average help, Berti makes for a highly useful waiver wire ad here in week 11 of the 2020 campaign. For his career, he's been caught on only 10 of his 63 stolen base attempts.