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The 2020 season continues to move along and with it, more challenges to find deep league sleepers. Playing time situations are still a little shaky for some teams, and lineups are anything but stable as the season crosses the quarter mark. There are still some intriguing names who are being a little underlooked that can make an impact on fantasy rosters, though.
This will be a look at players that are under 15% rostered in Yahoo leagues that are options to be considered in deeper leagues, or in the case of the Year of Coronaball, injury replacements with upside that have the possibility of sticking on rosters even beyond a few games or couple of weeks.
Without further ado, let's get into it.
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Asdrubal Cabrera (2B/3B, WAS)
12% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul
Cabrera was featured during the week two edition of this column, and in that time span, he has only seen a one-percentage-point increase in roster rate, while he still keeps hitting. It is a little understandable because of the Nationals hiatus in the early part of the month, but Cabrera continues to shine, with an overall .357/.413/.738 line, and has picked up right where he left off towards the tail end of the 2019 season. Sure, that level of play isn't going to sustain itself, but there are some encouraging marks with Cabrera having a 43.2% hard-hit rate, and a 91.6 miles-per-hour average exit velocity.
Cabrera is also locked into consistent playing time, playing third and first, and getting the occasional start at designated hitter. With Juan Soto back as well, there should be many opportunities for Cabrera to drive in some runs. The Nationals aren't going to take him out of the lineup right now, and fantasy players should grab him and enjoy his strong performances.
Todd Frazier (1B/3B, TEX)
11% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul
Here we go with boring, old Frazier. He doesn't bring anything overly flashy to the table but does bring consistency, which could be a welcome sight for many fantasy rosters. He plays every day and hits in the middle of the lineup for the Rangers and is currently swinging a hot stick with a .308/.379/.519 line. While that high .308 batting average is matched with a .368 BABIP that doesn't look all that sustainable, Frazier did manage a .251 batting average in 2019, which was a pleasant surprise coming off two consecutive seasons with a .213 mark. His walk and strikeout rates are also right in line with where they were last season at 8.6% and 20.7% respectively, so nothing looks too out of the ordinary there.
Frazier should continue to provide decent power with his .212 ISO mark looking good, and most importantly, consistency. He should probably be owned at a greater rate than 11%, but his boringness presents an opportunity for a deep-league manager to swoop in and grab him.
Touki Toussaint (P, ATL)
10% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a couple of weeks
Pitching is anything but certain at the moment, but for a team like the Atlanta Braves that have had their fair share of pitching worries already this season, with both Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb both struggling and at the alternate site, Mike Soroka out for the season, and Cole Hamels still a ways away from making his 2020 debut, the opportunity is here for a pitcher like Toussaint to finally make an impact for an extended stretch of time.
Toussaint has yet to get a full opportunity in the Braves rotation, with him making just six starts in the past two seasons, and having mixed results in 2019 mostly coming out of the bullpen with a 5.62 ERA in 41.2 innings. This season, it doesn't look much better with him having a 6.08 ERA through 13.1 innings, but there are encouraging signs. The ERA estimators all paint him in a much favorable light with him having a 3.33 FIP, a 2.49 xFIP, and a 2.65 SIERA. This extra enthusiasm is likely due to an increase in strikeout rate, with him sitting pretty with a 35.1% rate, up nearly 13 percentage points from a season ago. So what's behind the sudden surge? Well, Toussaint has greatly decreased his fastball usage, with both his four-seamer and sinker being his most-hit pitches and emphasizing more of his secondary pitches. His already elite curveball has been used over 30% of the time and he is mixing in his splitter and a new slider, with all three getting a huge amount of whiffs. Toussaint has a tough matchup against the Yankees this week, but will face the Marlins on Sunday, where he should shine. Grab him and monitor him performances, as he could be a nice gem in a pitching landscape that has seen a lot of decimation recently.
Jake Cronenworth (1B/2B/SS, SD)
9% Rostered, Recommended Move: Ride the hot streak
The San Diego offense is pretty impressive these days, and there is a nice hidden gem just sitting in the depths of the free-agent pool. That hitter, of course, being Cronenworth, who has gotten a steady helping of playing time with Eric Hosmer hitting the injured list. Cronenworth has gotten off to a hot start with a .344/.364/.750 triple slash. Obviously we aren't expecting that to stick, but so far he is doing a lot of things right.
He is hitting the ball hard at 44.4%, putting the ball in play and limiting strikeouts at just 15.2% thus far, and doing a good enough job keeping the ball off the ground, at a 40.7% rate. Hosmer has returned to the Padres lineup, but Cronenworth has continued to stick around, and should continue to get consistent playing time at second base with Jurickson Profar continuing to struggle. The Padres are expected to keep playing Cronenworth and ride out his hot streak, and fantasy managers should do the same.
Jesse Winker (OF, CIN)
5% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add and stash for a few weeks
A lot of people dropped Winker earlier in the year when he got off to a slow start and playing time was less certain. Well in the past week, Winker more than made up for it with nine hits in his last 20 plate appearances, featuring two doubles and a home run. Winker is a good hitter that he would be expected to bounce back, and now there is a chance to pick him up again after he was dumped by many. Despite his slow start, Winker is sitting nicely in the 86th percentile of the exit velocity department, and the rest of his profile should bounceback too.
Playing time does not appear to be an issue at the moment, either. Winker has started the last six games for the Reds, including three games against left-handed pitchers, and should continue to play most days with Mike Moustakas on the injured list. Expect Winker to be more like his 2019 self going forward, but keep a close eye on the playing time situation. If he's sitting against lefties again, it may not be worth it to roster him in a platoon role.
Dominic Smith (1B/OF, NYM)
3% Rostered, Recommended Move: Add for the long haul
Smith was recommended last week, and the suggestion then was to add him for the long haul, and that is the recommendation yet again. He is still at the same roster rate as he was last week, that despite him hitting three doubles and a homer in that span. Smith played all but one game for the Mets last week, as he should be locked into everyday at-bats, as the Mets bench is pretty thin at the moment. Smith is getting a good amount of barrels on the ball, with a rate of 18.2% that is among the best in baseball right now. While that is unlikely to stick, Smith remains a good power option for deep leagues.
He's not without issues though, as the rest of the game isn't too spectacular. He's not expected to provide much in terms of batting average, and definitely not in the speed department, but with good power potential and room for the rest of the counting stats, Smith is still worthy of a roster spot in deep leagues.
Looking Back on Last Week's Picks
At the end of each week's post, we'll end with a brief look back on last week's picks along with a brief recommendation on what to do with the said player for the future.
Leury Garcia (2B/SS/OF, CWS)
Last week: 13% rostered. This Week: 29% rostered.
Last week, Garcia was recommended on the basis of riding out his hot streak. Well, in the past week Garcia went from hot to cold, getting just four hits in the last six games, and now his overall .271/.317/441 slash line doesn't look all that special. He is still making a lot of contact, but not all that great contact, with him towards the bottom of the league in terms of hard-hit rate. He is also still getting all of the playing time at shortstop in Tim Anderson's absence, and the multi-eligibility and speed is still nice, but he has yet to steal a base this season. You can hold and hope for a bounceback, but this looks like a drop right now. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Evan Longoria (3B, SF)
Last week: 8% rostered. This Week: 5% rostered.
Longoria, in his first stretch of playing time since coming off the injured list, did not have a good week. he had just two hits in 17 plate appearances, and that's an overall .231/.256/.359 triple slash. This is unplayable for sure, and feel free to drop. One thing to note is that he does have an expected batting average of .297 and an expected slugging of .550, with a decent 8.3% barrel rate and a minuscule 11.6% strikeout rate. There are no fantasy points awarded for expected stats, but keep an eye on Longoria in case he gets hot. This is definitely a drop right now, though. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Rio Ruiz (3B/1B, BAL)
Last week: 5% rostered. This week: 5% rostered.
Ruiz dealt with some injuries last week that kept him out of the lineup, but is now fully healthy and did quite well in the games he did play. He popped three home runs, drove in seven runs, and even added a stolen base in there for good measure (don't expect many more of those). He's still hitting the ball super hard, and hitting in the middle of the Orioles surprising lineup, and you're holding for now. Current Recommendation: Hold.
Alex Dickerson (OF, SF)
Last week: 4% rostered. This week: 3% rostered.
Another struggling Giant, Dickerson did not make much out of his opportunities in Colorado and against tough Dodger and Astro pitching, he didn't do enough to keep him around your fantasy teams. He got just one hit in the past week and only made three starts as the Giants faced three lefties. There is still an encouraging profile here with promising Statcast metrics, but there is not much of a need to roster a platoon hitter at the moment, so this is a drop. Keep an eye out for promising matchups though, as Dickerson should still have stream appeal. Current Recommendation: Drop.
Bradley Zimmer (OF, CLE)
Last week: 1% rostered. This week: 1% rostered.
Zimmer was more of a speculative pick last week, but there is little time for speculative picks in this sprint of a season. Zimmer had just one hit last week and only started three times. This is a similar situation to Dickerson, in that there are still some encouraging signs, but there is little reason to hold a platoon hitter, or at least one like Zimmer at the moment. His brother Kyle, on the other hand, has done extremely well so far this season. Alas, this is also a drop situation. Current Recommendation: Drop.
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