X
Lost password?

Don't have an account?
Gain Access Now

X

Receive free daily analysis

NFL
NBA
NHL
NASCAR
CFB
MLB
MMA
PGA
ESPORTS
BETTING

Already have an account? Log In

X

Forgot Password


LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

Buy Low and Sell High Hitters for Fantasy Baseball (Week 21)

By Keith Allison on Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

It is now the 21-week anniversary of this column. Each week, I've considered writing about Arizona's breakout star, A.J. Pollock. The problem is, I never have any idea where to put him. For the first few weeks and months of the season, he seemed like a clear 'sell high' option. Yet, there was something about his consistent, non-flashy style of play that lead me to believe that he was the real deal.

Well, here we are in late-August, and Pollock remains one of the hottest, if not the hottest, hitter in the league. His production, along with the prowess of guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Wellington Castillo, have aided the Diamondbacks to remain in contention for a playoff spot in the NL East, a division in which they were expected to scrape the bottom.

Soon, I expect, the D-backs will fall out of contention and prepare their squad for next season. As a result, the club's top players will likely be rested and preserved for another shot at October. Following that logic, Pollock could be considered a 'sell high' option at this point of the season as well, considering his top-tier level of play. But I just don't have the heart to do it. If you are in a keeper league, hang on to Pollock with all your might. Still, it is worth considering teams current standing in relation to a playoff spot. Cellar-dwelling teams are likely to rest their stars, while young players are likely to see much more time to prepare for future campaigns.

 

Sell High Hitters for Week 21

Miguel Sano (3B/DH, MIN)

Heading into the 2015 season, Sano was the 13th ranked prospect according to Baseball America. After finally receiving the call-up at the beginning of July, the linebacker-sized DH has surpassed the hype, immediately becoming the Twins most valuable hitter. In just 44 games, Sano boasts a .288/.397/.582 slash line with 11 HR and a staggering 34 RBI. The Dominican slugger is one of many young prospects this year to enter MLB competition guns blazing. Thanks to guys like Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Maikel Franco, top prospects entering the majors command a high value on the trade market.

At this point of the year, Sano's value is at a premium. As previously mentioned, young guys will receive the bulk of the playing time in the waning weeks of the regular season, while veterans receive some much-needed rest. Playoff-bound fantasy squads will be chomping at the bit for a legitimate power threat like Sano. Likewise, owners in keeper leagues will pay a steep price for such a promising young star. Name your price. With an asset like Sano, you can likely have your pick of the litter on the trade market. If, or when, Sano's unsustainable prowess diminishes, you will be able to hold your head high.

Dexter Fowler (OF, CHC)

The offense in Chicago has been white hot in the month of August, as their combined 36 homers leads the league and 117 runs scored ranks third. Particularly, the top third of the lineup, consisting of Fowler, Chris Coughlan and Kyle Schwarber has been the fuel to the offensive fire. It all comes down to Fowler's production in the leadoff spot. Since the All-Star break, Fowler is swatting an astonishing .333/.464/.583 with 18 XBH and 5 steals. For a guy who was on the waiver wire in most formats for, likely, most of the season, that's a very impressive line.

There's a reason most leagues didn't roster the outfielder for most of the season. In the first half, Fowler struggled with a .225/.303/.364 line, albeit with a palatable 8 HR and 12 SB. Still, for a leadoff man the OBP was unacceptable and for an outfielder, the production was overall lackluster. The Cubs are playing unsustainably good baseball right now. Expect one of the many players currently outperforming expectations to regress. Subsequently, expect the rest to fall like a house of cards. Don't get me wrong - the Cubs are heading to October and the offense is top notch. That doesn't mean you shouldn't exploit a good thing while it's too good to be true.

Jackie Bradley Jr. (OF, BOS)

When you consider how impressive Jackie Bradley's bat has been recently, it's shocking to think he is still fighting for playing time in a mediocre Boston lineup. In the month of August, the young gun is sporting a .344/.431/.754 line with 4 HR and 20 RBI in just 18 games. That's pretty crazy for a platoon player. What's even more crazy, you ask? In the past 15 days he has played even better, with a league leading 1.023 slugging percentage and a staggering 1.513 OPS over that time frame. He's splitting time in a crowded Boston outfield with Rusney Castillo, who has also been sporting a flaming hot bat recently. With the amount of money the Red Sox are paying Castillo, it would take a lot to bench him at this point in an already lost season.

It's worth noting that Hanley Ramirez has been playing dreadfully as of late, with only 2 hits in his last 20 at bats. If the Sox opt to give the veteran a healthy portion of days off in the final month of the season, expect both Castillo and Bradley to shine in an everyday role. Either way, if Bradley continues to rack up the hits, the club will have no choice but to give him regular playing time. Play up all of these storylines and you can probably get a good deal for Bradley that will help an ailing aspect of your squad down the stretch.

 

Buy Low Hitters for Week 20

Byron Buxton (OF, MIN)

Buxton is back with the Twins for his second shot at the big leagues. This time, things are going a little better. The young hyped prospect struggled his first time around, batting a meager .189 in 11 games before going down with a thumb injury. Since his return on August 20, Buxton has gone 5-for-21 and recorded his first RBI.

Of course, this is nowhere near expectations for the rookie outfielder. Between Double-A and Triple-A this year, Buxton was slashing .305/.367/.500 with 7 HR and 22 SB. Some owners may hold a high price for Buxton due to the influx of hot-hitting rookies this year. However, many are probably becoming weary of Buxton's struggles at the Major League level, especially because he is not a traditional power-threat like Schwarber or Bryant. Buxton is a gamble. If you can find an owner willing to part with him for a modest price, he could find his stride very soon and be a legitimate speed threat for your team in the remaining games this season.

Carlos Gomez (OF, HOU)

Being traded to a legitimate contender should have been the ignition that Gomez needed to affirm his status as an elite MLB hitter. Unfortunately, it hasn't been so pretty. The longtime Brewer is just 15-for-80 thus far in Houston, as he has been more of a detriment to the club than a spark. The power just isn't there, although he has shown flashes of speed with 5 stolen bases in just 19 trips on base.

This one is pretty cut and dry. Gomez is a bonafide star. Sooner or later, he will put it together and his club has plenty to play for in the remaining weeks of the regular season. Still, fantasy owners tend to be impatient and Gomez has been a drag the past month. With Milwaukee in 2015, Gomez was slashing a respectable .262/.328/.423 with 29 XBH. Look for a regression to that level of production with an added potential of upside for the remainder of the year.

Lucas Duda (1B, NYM)

Duda landed himself on the 15-Day DL on Saturday with back issues. This is the time of year where any DL stint will cause fantasy owners to drop players from their team. What's the point in stashing an ailing hitter with only a few weeks remaining on the season?

Well, stashing Duda could very well be worth it. The diagnosis is a small thoracic disc herniation. We all know what that means, obviously. The Mets expect Duda to miss the minimum 15 required days and no more. The hard-hitting first baseman has shown flashes of brilliance in 2015. In less than a month, between July 10 and August 5, Duda slashed .278/.376/.747 and swatted 11 homers with 19 RBI. In total, he is slugging .472 on the year with 21 HR and 28 doubles to boot. If you can snag him for cheap right now, which you likely can, he could be a legitimate source of power in the closing weeks of the season. After all, the Mets will finally have something to play for in September.

 

MLB & Fantasy Baseball Chat Room

[iflychat_embed id="c-12" hide_user_list="yes" hide_popup_chat="no" height="400px"]

 




LINEUP RESOURCES

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

WIN MORE IN 2024

Articles & Tools
Import Your Leagues
Daily Stats & Leaders
All Pitcher Matchups
Compare Any Players
Pickups & Streamers
Rookies & Call-Ups
24x7 News and Alerts

ROTOBALLER PLAYER NEWS

RANKINGS
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
OF
SP
RP

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 
Alexis Diaz fantasy baseball closers rankings draft sleepers waiver wire pickups

MLB Closers and Saves: Fantasy Baseball Depth Charts

Saves are an important component for many fantasy baseball leagues. Closers are one of the most volatile positions in fantasy baseball, and one of the highest turnover positions in MLB. Each year, closers drop like flies and many MLB teams make in-season changes due to injuries or poor performance. In addition to closers and saves, relief... Read More


Do These Prospects Matter for Fantasy Baseball?

The 2023 fantasy baseball season has been highlighted by the promotion of nearly two-dozen top prospects to the major leagues to impact fantasy rosters. This week's edition features one player who was called up as the piece was being written. Will these strong performers join the ranks of those who have moved to the majors... Read More


clayton kershaw fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

articles report test

this is a test


Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome back! It's Week 24 of our fantasy baseball Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups series! There are just two precious weeks left, and every start is becoming more and more important as most of the fantasy baseball world is in playoff matchups. If you've made it this far, there's a good chance you don't really... Read More


Aaron Nola - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, DFS Lineup Picks

Starts & Sits for MLB Week 23 - All Starting Pitcher Matchups for Fantasy Baseball

Welcome back RotoBallers! Big week in fantasy leagues as we approach the end of the season and playoffs! As always, we are here with our starting pitcher starts and sits series to help you set those winning lineups for the week ahead! For those who are not familiar, RotoBaller puts out a weekly grid of... Read More


Gunnar Henderson - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Prospects, Draft Sleepers

Points League Hitters: Waiver Wire Pickups for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Welcome to Week 24 and our fantasy baseball waiver wire hitters. We'll be doing this roundup of points leagues every week here at RotoBaller, with waiver wire targets and streaming pitchers being evaluated in terms of the different scoring systems of ESPN, Yahoo!, CBS, and Fantrax. Player values can vary wildly from platform to platform,... Read More


Brayan Bello - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, Waiver Wire Pickups

Two-Start Pitcher Streamers for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

Yo, it's Jon Anderson, continuing to run the show here in terms of late-summer fantasy baseball writing. There are just two weeks left of streaming pitchers, so let's make it count! This weekly fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups column aims to identify starting pitchers expected to make two starts in the upcoming fantasy baseball week,... Read More


Fantasy Baseball Week 24 Injury News and Updates: Tyler Glasnow, Ozzie Albies, Starling Marte, Anthony Rizzo, Zack Wheeler

September is now more than half over. The baseball season is slowly coming to a close. At this point, fantasy players are pushing for their league titles or just playing for pride. Major League Baseball teams continue to do the same and injuries continue to happen, now with the dreaded term "done for the season"... Read More


Joe Musgrove - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/17/22)

Happy Saturday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/17/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Today's MLB slates are split up as is the norm for September baseball. Half the guys I think will play will not, so you have to be as flexible as Gumby to play MLB DFS in September, but that also means that there is a lot of money out there should you dare to dive... Read More


Max Fried - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Draft Sleepers, MLB Injury News

Free MLB Betting Picks - Today's Best Bets, Expert Predictions, Odds (9/15/22)

Happy Friday, RotoBallers, we're back for another weekend of MLB betting picks! Make sure you're following my Twitter, as I can't guarantee that I'll always be able to get the added plays written here in the article, but I will typically add whatever else I'm playing throughout the day. The entire RotoBaller team has been... Read More


Robbie Ray - Fantasy Baseball Rankings, MLB Injury News, Draft Sleepers

DraftKings, FanDuel Daily Fantasy Baseball Picks (9/16/22): Today's Top MLB DFS Lineups

Fridays are big MLB DFS days and offer a nice respite from the NFL, who command our attention on Thursdays, Sundays, and Mondays. This slate, like most Friday slates, is a big one as all MLB teams are in action today and 28 of those teams are on tonight's 14-game DFS slate. This was a... Read More


kyle farmer fantasy baseball rankings draft sleepers MLB injury news

Top Hitter Streamers and Starts for Fantasy Baseball - Week 24

There are only two weeks left of fantasy baseball! It's going to be very sad when the season comes to an end, but the impending end of the season means that these are the most important, and therefore most fun weeks of the year – for those of you still competing, at least. I have... Read More


TODAY’S MOST VIEWED PLAYERS

rotating JS ad test

RANKINGS

QB
RB
WR
TE
K
DEF

MORE RECENT ARTICLES

 

PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

test publish 5 mins in future

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Updates for Aaron Rodgers

Warning: Undefined array key "amp_post_template_footer" in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Warning: foreach() argument must be of type array|object, null given in /var/www/rotoballer.com/wp-content/plugins/php-code-for-posts/Classes/Shortcode.php(91) : eval()'d code on line 6 Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the... Read More


derrick henry fantasy football rankings news NFL DFS lineup picks

PrizePicks NFL DFS Picks - Monday Night Football

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is finally underway and that means our friends over at PrizePicks have a TON of great props we can look to take advantage of. PrizePicks is a great DFS picks site where you can choose to select plays in terms of fantasy points or single stats. The... Read More


Justin Jefferson - Fantasy Football Rankings, DFS Lineup Picks, NFL Injury News

NFL DFS Prop Picks for Monkey Knife Fight - Monday Night Football

Welcome to NFL Monday Night Football, where we have two games scheduled between the Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles and the Tennessee Titans vs. Buffalo Bills.  Monday's games mean our friends at Monkey Knife Fight are offering some fantastic props for us to play once again! The good people at Monkey Knife Fight offer some... Read More


D'Andre Swift - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL DFS Lineup Picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL RBs: Week 2 Updates for Najee Harris, J.K. Dobbins, D'Andre Swift, Alvin Kamara, Mark Ingram

Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for running backs in Week 2, as of September 17. The injury statuses for various NFL running backs are up in the air for Week 2 including D'Andre Swift, Najee Harris, Alvin Kamara, J.K. Dobbins, and more. The fantasy football season may be just getting underway,... Read More


michael pittman jr. fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports For NFL WRs: Week 2 Updates for Michael Pittman Jr., Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, Allen Lazard, Julio Jones

Welcome to Week 2 of the fantasy football season and the Saturday edition of our WR injury reports! Below you will find our fantasy football injuries report for wide receivers in Week 2 as of September 16th. The injury statuses for various NFL wide receivers are up in the air for Week 2, including Michael... Read More


justin herbert fantasy football rankings NFL DFS lineup picks

Fantasy Football Injury Reports for QBs: Week 2 Updates for Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, Mac Jones

Below you will find our updated fantasy football injuries report for quarterbacks in the days before Week 2 of the 2022 NFL season as of Friday, September 16. There are a few NFL QBs dealing with injuries, including Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Jameis Winston, and Mac Jones. Being up-to-date on NFL injury news can give... Read More


Trey Lance - Fantasy Football Rankings, Draft Sleepers, NFL Injury News

Key Starters and Tough Calls - Lineup Spotlights for Fantasy Football Week 2

Every week, I share some of my favored choices and players to go with when dealing with challenging lineup decisions. These selections are based on my Premium Weekly Lineup Rankings, available as part of the RotoBaller NFL Premium Pass. Enter promo code KING at checkout for a discount and get access to my ranks in all formats, plus... Read More


Saquon Barkley - Fantasy Football Rankings, NFL Injury News, Draft Sleepers

Week 2 NFL Pick Em Selections for No House Advantage

Hello everybody and welcome! The 2022 NFL season is underway and that means our friends over at No House Advantage have a TON of great DFS plays we can look to take advantage of. No House Advantage is a unique DFS prop picks site where you do not have to play against the house to... Read More


Wide Receiver Matchups to Target in Week 2: Greg Dortch, Terry McLaurin, Christian Kirk

Week 1 made some things come to light as we got some clarity on some murky situations. Unfortunately, many of our WR targets for DFS last week were victims of this. Robert Woods finished the game with one reception for 13 yards, as the Titans used the rookie receivers much more than him. Brandon Aiyuk... Read More


Carson Wentz - Fantasy Football Rankings, Waiver Wire Pickups, Draft Sleepers

Thunder Dan's NFL Betting Picks for Week 2: Top NFL Player Props Bets

Football season is back! Whether you like to bet game totals, sides, or player props, I have something in here for you, and try to cover a little bit of everything! This year, I started my own free sports betting newsletter, and the good people here at RotoBaller are allowing me to share my picks... Read More


Fantasy Football IDP Injury Reports For NFL Defensive Players: Week 2 Updates for T.J. Watt, Jamal Adams, Jalen Thompson, Ed Oliver

T.J. Watt owners, you know the feeling... I had T.J. Watt in my home league last season. He was constantly checking out of games early with nagging minor injuries, but he must have led every IDP manager who started him to the playoffs. I went back to the well and drafted him early this year.... Read More