Middle Infield Roundup – Terrific Twos

Howdy again, y’all.

I wanted to lead off by saying something that is probably pretty obvious, but if I don’t mention it, someone will very likely comment on my non-comment on the news. So, here it goes:

I think Luis Arraez is a much better fantasy asset now that he’s a Padre, because the Padres are a better team than the Marlins. Hashtag Analysis.

Anyway, for the rest of today, we’ll be working in twos: Two injuries that have led or will lead to some potentially impactful fantasy ramifications, and a recap of which teams have the best middle infield duos so far this fantasy season, according to the trusty Razzball Player Rater.

How is Trea Turner’s hammy feeling? Eh, just so-Sosa

On an excellent piece of heads-up baserunning to score from second on a passed ball, Trea Turner tweaked his hamstring and was forced to exit Thursday’s game against the Giants. To that point, Turner had been the 7th most valuable middle infielder according to the Razzball Player Rater ($28.2). Now that we know he’s likely to be on the shelf for around six weeks, it’s just the latest in a series of hits for some managers who have endured a torrent of injurious assaults on their fantasy rosters.

The Phillies called up Kody Clemens as a corresponding move when placing Turner on the IL. While he will likely see the occasional plate appearance, Edmundo Sosa will garner the lion’s share of plate appearances in Turner’s absence. You could certainly do worse than Sosa as a streamer in deeper leagues, as his average will be palatable while offering a nice opportunity to accumulate some stolen bases with his 96th-percentile sprint speed.

Sosa could be a fine stopgap replacement for a team in a deep Yahoo league looking to replace their lost Trea Turner plate appearances, but you’ll have to wait a bit in those deep ESPN leagues until he receives SS eligibility.

As it turns out, Rojas is not just Joshing around

One of the ways I love using the Player Rater is looking at stats over different intervals and seeing which players are:

1. Providing positive value over that interval; and
2. Under-rostered based on their performance

Despite the acquisition of Luke Raley, another left-handed hitter has been an absolute strong-side platoon nightmare for Seattle’s opponents, and that’s Josh Rojas.

Starting exclusively against right-handed pitchers this year, Rojas has put up an absurd 198 wRC+ over 87 plate appearances while tallying three homers and three stolen bases. Even though Dylan Moore seemed a more likely fantasy beneficiary after J.P. Crawford was placed on the IL with an oblique strain, Josh Rojas’s hot start gave Scott Servais the confidence to let him bat leadoff against righties in Crawford’s stead. So far that decision has been awarded, as Rojas has reached base safely in six of his seven starts since April 24th, including two consecutive three-hit efforts in his last two starts.

Sure, Rojas being the 37th most valuable fantasy middle infielder doesn’t scream “pick me up”; but he’s done this while mostly batting ninth and getting about 1/3 fewer plate appearances than a good majority of the names ahead of him on that leaderboard. If you have the lineup flexibility to take full advantage of those platoon splits each week, Rojas seems like he could be a sneaky good pickup now that he’s leading off. And hey, if not, stream him this week; he gets righties in six of his seven games. The 2B/3B dual eligibility is pretty sick, and he even got a start in LF, so maybe there’s a shot he gets eligibility there too.

The Best Middle Infield Stacks (So Far)

1. Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Westburg – $61.6

Well, this one is unsurprising on one end, and pleasantly surprising on the other. Gunnar was heavily sought after in draft season, and for good reason; he’s the only MI with double-digit home runs so far this year, his average floor is nice and high, and the stolen bases are always more than welcome. But Jordan Westburg? That’s another story entirely.

While Gunnar has displayed more pop this year, both of these guys are running parallel to one another in terms of their value; both have or are trending toward MI/CI dual eligibility, both are reliably going to contribute to both steals and homers, and both tear the cover off the ball.

2. Jeremy Peña and José Altuve – $52.4

This one is another case of a player who we knew would be solid in José Altuve, and a player we had hoped would take a step forward in Jeremy Peña. That seems to have happened.

When you look at Peña’s Baseball Savant page, it’s clear he’s been impacting the ball with more authority than last year, lifting the ball more often, and making more contact in the zone. In turn, whiff rates and strikeout rates have both dropped a substantial amount.

While the Crawford boxes in LF will certainly bolster Peña’s power numbers (as they have many a right-handed hitter in Houston), I do think that he is someone I largely wrote off in draft season thinking his upside was limited due to a lack of true power and a less than ideal batting average floor. So far, I’m happy to have been proven wrong.

3. Willy Adames and Brice Turang – $46.0

You didn’t think I would finish an article without discussing a Brewer, right?

In all seriousness, Brice Turang has been covered multiple times in this article, but it still blows my mind that he has shown to be a more valuable fantasy asset than guys like Marcus Semien, Ozzie Albies, and Francisco Lindor so far this year. Among middle infielders, his 14 stolen bases are second only to the prolific Elly De La Cruz, and his .308 average ranks 13th.

While the occasional ineptitude of the Brewers team offense limits his upside, it’s clear there’s some talent between him and Willy Adames when you see them in lockstep with each other in the top 12 middle infielders.

Questions on other middle infielders? Anyone I didn’t touch on that I should have? Any takes you disagree with?

Let me know in that comment section and I’ll hit you back as soon as I’m able!