Fantasy Baseball: Torpedo bats this, torpedo bats that — the Pirates are more interested in stealing

Runs, home runs, torpedo bats — I get why the headlines are where they are. I understand. Offense is fun. Homers are glorious four-category events.

But be a sport and allow me to change the conversation for a moment. Meet me in Pittsburgh. Yeah, let's talk about the 1-5 Pirates.

It's not a pretty start for the black and gold. Three walk-off losses. Closer David Bednar was demoted to the minors Tuesday. Key SP Jared Jones is out indefinitely, shifting to the 60-day IL.

But there's one thing the Pirates do better — and more often — than any other team. They run. Oh man, how they run.

The Bucs are already up to 17 steals (four clear of the running Padres) and have been caught just once. This one Pittsburgh club owns 13% of the stolen bases in baseball this year. You want a bag, you dial up the Pirates. (Meanwhile, some teams are flashing the red light. The Athletics, Guardians and Astros are still bagless — the nomad A's don't even have a steal attempt — while the Yankees and Phillies are struck on one steal each. In defense of the Yankees, you can't steal a base if you just hit a homer.

This should be the year Oneil Cruz turns into a mega-star. We saw the growth in the second half of last year (.821 OPS after the break, 15-for-15 on bags) and this spring he's a perfect 5-for-5 on steals. He's also improving his plate discipline — note the six walks, even with six strikeouts. Just beginning an age-26 season, Cruz has an enormous ceiling.

He's one of my most-rostered players, a common third-round pick in March. I might take him in the second round if I were drafting tonight. And you know about his hard-hit profile, hammer of the gods.

Okay, so you can't pick up Cruz. Can I interest deep-leaguers in Isiah Kiner-Falefa?

He's off to a .333 start, with more walks than strikeouts. He's stolen four bases. IKF qualifies at second, short and third in Yahoo leagues (we love roster flexibility), and is free to add in 82% of our pools. I know he's batting ninth at the moment, but there's a fair chance he could get promoted if the production sticks.

Catcher Joey Bart hasn't clicked yet, but give it time. His 80 games with the Bucs last year were a smash (.265/.337/.462, with 13 homers); it's glorious to be freed from San Francisco's roomy park. This is the cheapest 15-20 homer candidate on the catcher board, rostered in just 17% of Yahoo. Bart