Middle infield hasn’t been the easiest place to find gems this season. While the SS player pool feels similar to its usual high quality with the top 10-12 at the position, its depth isn’t there in the same way we’ve seen in recent years. Conversely, while 2B doesn’t offer much ceiling this season, it seems to me a deeper position where I can find surprising help off the waiver wire to fill some stat needs. But it only goes so deep, and all of the usual suspects are widely rostered.
So, to find some new options, I’m taking a look at 3 players that I’ve barely mentioned this season because they all have significant downsides in one or more areas of their profile. The Minnesota Twins’ fire sale opened up some new opportunities for 3 players – whether through a new home, a new position, or more access to playing time, I think I’m interested in each of these guys.
As usual, all stats referenced are as of end of day on Tuesday, August 5th. I am using NFBC for position eligibility, so it’s possible that the players below may be eligible at more positions on other sites.
– Willi Castro, 2B/3B/SS/OF, CHC
The jack-of-all-trades Willi Castro has joined possibly the perfect team for him. As a Cubs fan, I can attest that the mass of the fanbase is still breathing the oxygen of 2016 – which, I assume, is why they haven’t completely turned on Jed Hoyer and Tom Ricketts. Ricketts has repeatedly shown his penny pinching ways despite Chicago being the third largest market in the country and the Cubs being one of MLB’s most popular franchises. And Hoyer apparently decided having a team battling the Milwaukee Brewers for the NL Central title wasn’t enough of a reason to go get pitching at the deadline. So much for a deep postseason run.
Part of living on the fumes of 2016 is a healthy adoration of Ben Zobrist, the everyman who found a way to contribute from any defensive position at any time during his time in Chicago. Enter Castro, Zobrist part 2. Castro, eligible at 2B, 3B, SS, and OF (and if you play Yahoo, probably P and C as well), now enters into that everyman role. Though he doesn’t have the pop that Zobrist had, he has tools that might make him a perfect fit for the Cubs. In the first 4 games with his new team, he’s played full-time and manned 2B, 3B, and OF already. This is a Craig Counsel kind of player.
What can be overlooked about Castro is he’s a solid player all around. Even with some injury struggles in Minnesota this year, he has put together a .248 AVG, 10 HR, 51 R, and 9 SB in just 360 PAs. While his AVG isn’t helpful, it isn’t an anchor to a fantasy team. And a player who is on pace to finish just shy of 20 HR / 20 SB gets my attention regardless of blemishes. Then, when we consider he’s scored 51 R playing on a Twins team that has been spiraling for much of the season, what might Castro be able to accomplish as part of the Cubs’ offensive machine?
What really excites me is what his SB numbers might look like for the rest of the season. I’m not one who is going to trash Rocco Baldelli’s decision-making – Twins’ fans have that covered, but it’s worth admitting that he is married to what the data tells him to decide, no matter what. And Baldelli’s data told him that Castro was stealing at only a 75% success rate – anything below 80% is off limits for the Twins, so Castro hasn’t been allowed to run as much as I’d like to see. Castro’s foot speed is legit (28.3 ft/s). The man needs to run. Yet this season’s SBA% of 2.6% is the second highest of his career. Surely, the Cubs who are ranked 3rd in the league both for SB attempts and SB success will let Castro increase that SBA%. Please. Run, Willi. Castro’s current rest-of-season Razzball projection is for 4 SB, which feels low to me. That said, though, he hasn’t attempted a steal in his first 4 games with his new team, so I’m admittedly going somewhat on faith.
Castro is widely rostered in high stakes leagues, but on the most popular sites, his roster percentage is still decidedly low (CBS 48%, ESPN 26.9%, Yahoo 43%). In any league 12-team and deeper, I’m at least keeping an eye on how Castro is used by the Cubs.
– Kody Clemens, OF/2B/1B, MIN
Kody Clemens is a winner of Minnesota’s teardown at the trade deadline. He has 223 PAs to this point, but now, his PT looks to increase significantly. Since the trade deadline, he’s been a full-time player, and as such, I would expect him to be able to double his total number of PAs in the final 7-8 weeks of the season.
I would also expect that Clemens’s counting stats will be enough to matter for fantasy. He has collected 12 HR over his 223 PAs – extrapolated over 600 PAs, that would be 32 HR. Obviously, Clemens won’t reach 600 PAs this year, but 450 seems plenty doable. That extrapolation has him at 24 HR. We can’t rely on extrapolation, but his HH data makes his power look legit. Since his limited PAs in 2023, Clemens has hit the ball hard: 40.4%, increasing to 42.4% in 2024 and now 53.3% this season. Whoa. His Barrel% has followed the pattern: going from 6.1% in 2023 to 7.1% in 2024 and 13.2% this season. His EV has increased over that period, from 90.4 mph to 93.3 mph. And his LA of 16° gives him plenty of loft to get the ball out; his 45.6% FB% doesn’t hurt either.
Despite his low .232 AVG, Clemens also demonstrates some decent plate discipline: His 8.1% BB-rate isn’t great, but it is up from 4.2% last season. His 22% K-rate is solid for a power hitter, and it’s improved for 3 straight seasons, starting at 27% in 2023. Even his contact data isn’t terrible at 78% overall and 84.4% in the strike zone. This guy looks like he might put together a good run for a Minnesota team that has no reason not to play him.
The caveat is Clemens has very much been a platoon player: vs. RHP, he’s dangerous; vs. LHP, he’s a danger to himself – and your stats. That said, he started against LHP Joey Cantillo on Sunday, 8/3, going 1 for 3 against Cantillo and 2 for 4 overall. Maybe the white-flag-waving Twins plan to play Clemens no matter what.
If you are looking for a power boost with possible help in RBI, Clemens seems like a must-add in most leagues.
– Carlos Correa, SS (soon to 3B), HOU
Let me start by saying that, on a personal level, I hold Carlos Correa in the same moral stratosphere as His Dumpsterness Jose Altuve. I think he violated principles of the game that should never be violated. Fortunately for Correa, Altuve, Alex Bregman, et. al., I’m not MLB Commissioner. (I suspect team owners would not enjoy me in that position either.)
All that aside, Correa is still a decent, though oft-injured, player. Let us recognize who he is: a solid hitter who can provide reasonable AVG, HR, and RBI, and possibly be a plus contributor in R. Let’s also be aware of who he isn’t: Correa is NOT going to run. His body might explode if he tried to steal a base. His 2025 numbers aren’t terribly impressive – in 387 PAs, he has a .268 AVG but only 8 HR, 44 R, and 33 RBI. But who would really be motivated to play with focus while the Twins’ owners actively shop their franchise and obviously have no intention of trying to be competitive pre-sale?
Correa’s underlying skills still give me hope he can have a renaissance in Houston. His plate discipline skills have remained fairly steady, staying right around his numbers during those last years when he was considered more of a go-to in fantasy. His BB% has dropped to an unimpressive 7.2% when he used to be 10+%. But his K-rate is still strong at 18.6%. His Contact-rate is hanging steady at 81.1%, Z-Contact at 89%, O-Swing at a reasonable 27.7%, and CSW at 26.9%. Those numbers are all in line with his career norms, and they all offer potential value as long as Correa is still hitting the ball hard.
And he is. His 47.7% HH-rate is a career high, up over 3 points from last season. His 91.1 mph EV is also a career high, though only slightly. The problems are his Barrel% drop to 7% (down 2.1% from 2024), his LA drop to 7.9° (down from as high as 12.1° in 2021), and his GB% increase of 4.6 points from last year. These numbers, I think, largely explain this season’s low HR results. But enter the Crawford Boxes – 315 ft away from home plate in his new-old home park. I suspect, like his partners in trash can crime Altuve and Bregman, Correa will adapt his swing to take advantage of that short porch – in fact, he’s already homered since his return to Houston. That, plus the motivation it likely gives him to be back with a serious baseball organization makes me interested in picking him up off waivers where I can find him, especially in points leagues. His low roster percentages (CBS 69%, ESPN 37.5%, Yahoo 30%) tell me he’s plenty available – I’d go get him just to see what he can put together.
That’s it for this week. Back again, same time, same place next week. Until then. – ADHamley
ELDC owner here. I get to watch many of his AB’s and he’s at a
distinct disadvantage over other players.
a) Once Ellie gets to two strikes, be it 0-2 or 3-2, he’s done, usually via a strikeout. So in a sense he’s playing with a different set of rules than many others whereas he’s usually a K victim with two strikes.
b) seems that the MLB community has realized what most of us fantasy players/ELDC owners already know. He’s essentially an out v LHP. It seems by the time the game gets into the middle innings, he’s facing nothing but lefties. I know he’s not going to change his approach at this juncture in the season but I’m wondering if Terry Francona might whisper in ELDC’s ear that batting from the right side v LHP just ain’t workin’?