RADIO
BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues
OWNED IN: 1% of leagues
ANALYSIS: Miami Marlins outfielder Rafael Ortega is a 27-year-old non-prospect who had gone through four organizations before coming to the Marlins as a minor-league free agent this past offseason. Weighing in at a slight 160 lbs., he has good-to-great speed, makes good contact, but has almost no pop. His one extended look in the bigs took place in 2016 with the Angels, where he finished up 202 plate appearances with a paltry .232/.283/.292 with a homer and eight steals. Looks pretty Quad-A, right?
Flash forward to 2018, and Ortega has put together an interesting couple of weeks with the Marlins. In a small-sample 35 plate appearances, he’s got a high BABIP .313/.371/.344 with four steals. Ok, so that was a bit underwhelming for the build-up sure, but he does control the plate and make contact.
Take a look at Ortega’s strikeout rates over the last few years. Since 2015, he’s put up 14.1%, 11.4%, 10.4%, and now 9.5% before his call up. Suffice to say, that’s really good. So Ortega has a very good eye, and he makes contact around 90% of the time he swings the bat. Ortega has the speed to put up stolen bases in the mid-20s, just like he did in 2016 and 2017. These might be the cheapest steals you will ever buy, but a steal is a steal is a steal.
Check out RotoBaller's entire fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and sleepers list, updated daily!
