Zen And The Art Of Fantasy Baseball: Finding Awe In Both The Big And Small – And Learning To Appreciate Players I Tend To Overlook

The Moment of Zen:

I recently returned from a trip to Japan, which has to qualify as one of those “bucket list” destinations for me. In the just over a week I spent there, I saw any number of places and sights that left me speechless in the face of their beauty, historical legacy, and spiritual significance. One such sight was the Todaiji Temple in Nara city:

Pictured above is the Daibutsu-den, which is just a portion of the massive Todaiji Temple, quite likely the largest wooden structure on the face of the earth. Inside the Daibutsu-den is the Daibutsu itself, or Great Buddha statue:

The temple is extraordinary for its beauty, size (I was standing in the area below and in front of the staging area that you see here – the Buddha was towering over all of us who stood there), and, even amidst the mass of tourists visiting, its serenity. In retrospect, now that I have been to the temple, I think I would have gone to Japan just to see this one site. Fortunately, though, I was also able to experience other moments that left me in awe, through cultural structures (like the Todaiji Temple, among other temples, shrines, and a castle), natural scenes (Mt. Fuji showed itself briefly through the clouds), and even a few meditative minutes with my new deer friend:

Even with these extraordinary sights and the opportunity to sit with a wild animal (who bowed to me when I gave it a “deer cracker”), one of the moments from my trip that most sticks with me is a simple one. My son and I went to a little restaurant on one of the more lightly traveled streets in Osaka. While there, we ordered our sashimi dishes from a menu written completely in kanji, and we somehow managed to order 3x (in my case) and 5x (in my son’s case) what we were actually trying to order. As dish after dish after dish of sashimi kept being brought to the table while we, unsure how to stop the barrage, just kept eating whatever showed up, my son and I couldn’t help but laugh at ourselves. We had obviously not understood what we were ordering, as we knew maybe 10 words of Japanese between us, and the staff clearly knew an equally small amount of English. A recipe for a menu-related disaster, apparently. Eventually, we were finally able to (sheepishly) communicate our desire for no more food to be brought to the table. After the meal, the sashimi chef and I had an experience of bowing apologetically to each other, both assuming our own fault in the miscommunication. And that moment, just simple apologetic bows to each other, is one that most sticks with me. 

It’s fair to say that the experiences, whether sublime or comical, I had over the last fews days have affected me and will continue to help me shape my perspective of life’s value along with its impermanence – as I won’t likely experience anything similar anytime soon if ever – as well as life’s capacity to be inspiring if we allow ourselves to notice it.

How in the world does this apply to fantasy baseball?

I tend to firmly make up my mind about certain gaming strategies and player profiles when I play fantasy. In one way, my decisive nature is helpful – I know what I want when I draft a team or sit down to go through FAB, so I can create a plan for obtaining it. But the obvious shortcoming is once I decide a player doesn’t meet the kind of profile I like, I tend to overlook him from that point on. Which, of course, causes me to miss out on players who are good in ways that I don’t always notice or necessarily understand.

Case in point: Xavier Edwards

I have not been high on Edwards and have written as much on multiple occasions. Last year, my Razzball beat was a weekly middle infield column in which I ranked him below players like Luis Rengifo and Ezequiel Tovar in my initial 2025 middle infield rankings, and was never able to convince myself at any point in 2025 to even put him in my top 30 middle infielders. And, well, that stubbornness proved to be kind of dumb. Edwards managed to produce pretty much exactly what his projections suggested he would, ranking 120th overall in the end-of-season player rater, coming in at $11 of value, while Tovar ranked 205th ($5 value) and Rengifo stumbled to a 336th rank for a negative value (-$2).

Edwards fits my theme this week in that he is a steady contributor, but he doesn’t contribute the types of stats I most want on my roster. Sure, his batting average is consistently good, but I don’t actually believe in his hit tool because he has so little ability to impact the ball. Obviously, he provides stolen bases, but SBs can be found just about anywhere with the recent rule changes to base size, pick-off attempts, and the like. You see how I justify completely overlooking him? I think I have one Edwards share total among my leagues despite him performing well enough to currently rank 69th overall in the Razzball player rater (a nice $17 value so far).

Edwards consistently hits for a high average, yet his low hard hit metrics keep me from investing: anytime I think about drafting him, I ask myself how a guy with a HH% in the 20s can maintain a .300 BA. Yet every season Edwards hits, and this year he’s even increased his HH% to the low 30s (still bad, but less bad) and has somehow managed to hit 6 HRs. I don’t know if he can maintain the 13 HR pace he’s on and his RBI total will not be helpful to my teams, but I do know his speed allows him to overperform in batting average and collect bags. His plate discipline doesn’t hurt either – check out his Statcast card:

There’s a lot of blue in his power metrics, but a lot of red everywhere else. He’s also on pace for 90+ Rs with no reason to think he’ll slow that pace by too much.

In other words, I need to get over myself and learn to appreciate the beauty his game offers, bow apologetically to Edwards (or at least to his player card), and go get him everywhere I can. The problem, of course, is he’s widely rostered even in 10-team leagues. If you’re in an 8-team league and need BA, Rs, or SBs, however, go see if you can grab him off the wire. If he isn’t available, it may be time to buy high on the skills he offers if they are skills your team needs.

A deeper league option: Nick Gonzales

Since Edwards isn’t widely available, another batting average option that is only just now getting my attention is Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales. With position eligibility at both 2B and 3B, he gives you the additional MI and CI eligibility that can allow for roster flexibility. And since Yahoo is going to do Yahoo-eligibility type things, Gonzales also has SS eligibility there. That kind of positional flexibility is a huge plus anytime mid-week injuries pop up.

I have ignored Gonzales, however, because his profile is like Edwards’s only without the stolen bases. He’s a career .266 hitter, so his current BA that is pushing .300 is likely going to regress. While his current xBA is essentially equivalent to his near-.300 BA, his BABIP is well above career norms, unsustainably so. One reason for the high BABIP, though, is likely a change in approach – he has reduced his LA (from last year’s 9.1° to this season’s 6.3°, and that change is showing up in his FB% reduction (down to 27.4% from last season’s 32.1%) and his GB% increase (up to 53.3% from 2025’s 46.8%). He was already a ground ball hitter (he managed only 7 HRs in 2024 and 5 in 2025), but perhaps Gonzales has completely come to terms with his lack of power and has instead opted for more of a Luis Arraez-like approach, which looks reasonably sustainable going forward. Fortunately, no one rostering Gonzales is doing so hoping for 10 HR from him, but getting a .270+ BA could be helpful.

Surprisingly, though lacking in power, he is providing RBI help for the Pirates. He’s currently on a season-long pace for 75-80 RBIs, which would nearly double his previous career high. Can he maintain such an RBI pace? While I at first assumed the answer was an easy “no,” a closer look at some of his playing time trends leaves me not as sure. In past years, Gonzales’s PAs have been limited to part-time work, and he’s usually hit in the 6- or 7-hole when he’s been in the lineup. As this season began, the lower lineup spot looked to be repeating itself, but he has been getting consistent, near everyday at bats throughout. His PA total in Mar/Apr and again in May has surpassed 100 per month, matching his previous career total of 2 months of 100+ PAs; his PA pace for June suggests he’ll get his third 100+ PA month of this season and fifth of his career. 

In addition to the more consistent PAs, Gonzales has found himself hitting higher in the lineup. In his first 26 games started this year (Mar/Apr), he found himself in the 6-hole or lower 17 times. In his 35 games started during May and June, he has hit in the 5-hole or higher for 32 of them, including 6 times in the 1-hole, 3 times in the 2-hole, and 2 times in the 3-hole. As a result, his PAs per start have increased from 4.2 per game in Mar/Apr to 4.3 per game in May and June. While one-tenth of a PA doesn’t sound like much of a difference, in a month of 25 starts (which is roughly his current pace), those 2.5 extra PAs each month (adding roughly 12.5 PAs to his season total) could result in a few more H, R, and RBI chances.

Finally, like Edwards, Gonzales has also been a contributor in Rs, currently on a season-long pace of nearly 90. And despite his low SB numbers, he has elite speed (28.9 ft/s), so if he ever decides to add steals to his game, he certainly has the running ability to do so. Unlike Edwards, though, Gonzales is widely available on waiver wires. While deep-league high stakes players have been rostering him (he is 100% rostered in NFBC 15-team leagues), he is widely available in high stakes 12-team leagues and is barely a blip on managers’ radars in most ESPN and Yahoo leagues. If in need of BA and Rs (and surprisingly, RBIs), his game has a sneaky beauty to it that can be most helpful.

Good luck this week. Until next week. –ADHamley