There are some titles in baseball that can be dubious. The “saves leader” usually is the man that collects the most (or near the most) save opportunities. It does not necessarily mean he is the best closer in the league. Likewise, the leader in outfield assists is not always the best outfielder because baserunners are more apt to run on the unproven. Steals leader could be grouped into this list.

A steals leader might be considered the best leadoff hitter in the league, when that isn’t necessarily true. Case in point: Willy Taveras of the Colorado Rockies is far and away the MLB steals leader and looks to easily capture the crown unless Jose Reyes or Jacoby Ellsbury turns up the pace down the stretch. Taveras sits at a surprising 51 steals in mid-August, while Reyes and Ellsbury share a distant 2nd of 38 steals each. It’s surprising because Taveras swiped 34 and 33 steals respectively in his first two full seasons in the league, 2005 and 2006 with the Astros. In an shortened 97-game season with the Rockies in 2007, he stole another 33. This season, he’s on pace for about 75.

But Taveras is hardly the ideal leadoff hitter, merely because of his wealth of steals. He’s batting .251 with 1 HR and 22 RBI with an abysmal OBP of .305. And yet Taveras has 352 of his 370 ABs this season in the leadoff slot for the Rockies. Historically, the young Taveras simply doesn’t walk enough. The only year he had an acceptable OBP was 2007 when his OBP of .367 was propped up by a batting average of .320.

Ellsbury, the man Reyes shares 2nd place with, has had a disappointing season, as well. He’s batting .269 with 7 HR and 33 RBIs with an OBP of .331. In 116 at-bats last season, Ellsbury had a .353 average and .394 OBP. Even so, Ellsbury has 342 of his 390 at-bats at the leadoff spot.

Juan Pierre, 4th in MLB with 37 steals, could have a few more if the Dodgers outfield wasn’t so clogged. Pierre is batting .277 with 0 HR and 25 RBI with an OBP of .322. Historically, Pierre is a guy who has a pretty good average (around the .290s) but has a subpar OBP. So, again, he’s not an ideal leadoff hitter, either. A guy like B.J. Upton, tied for fifth with 36 steals, overcomes his bad average (.265) by having a career year in walks (80 so far) to have a good OBP of .381.

Michael Bourn is the most obvious case of high number of steals being a Trojan horse. He sits at seventh in MLB with 33 steals, but he’s batting just .232 with a godawful .286 OBP. Despite this, he’s collected 267 of his 362 at-bats in the leadoff position. It took way too long for the Astros to pull the plug on Bourn as the leadoff hitter, especially considering his batting average was mired below .200 in mid-May. .232 is actually close to his season high. Bourn can best be described as a fringe baseball player, only still in the bigs because of his ability to steal.

Meanwhile, Reyes wowed the league by easily taking the steals crown of 2007 with 78 steals, obliterating the Mets’ team record. He also was caught stealing 21 times, more than his 2006 total of 17 and looks to be more than his 2008 total (so far, 11). Outside of his steals, Reyes’ 2007 looks to be his worst offensive year out of the last three. He had more HRs and RBIs and a higher batting average and slugging percentage in 2006. He looks to have more HRs, more RBIs, a higher batting average, and a higher slugging percentage in 2008. Reyes also has a higher OBP in 2008 than in either 2006 or 2007.

Too often, in baseball, we focus too much on one aspect of the game, whether it be steals for leadoff hitters, home runs for sluggers, or wins for pitchers. We fail to look at the whole package, and that causes the misvaluing of players. Of all the players in the top 10 in baseball in steals, Reyes looks like the best overall player.