Kolten Wong (14.2% owned – increase of 9%) was far from being the most added player over the past week. In fact, he barely made the list, but the fact that he made the list at all is amazing. It would be Wong of me to not at least dig into him further, no?
Ok, I apologize. That was bad. Anyways, since the start of the month, Wong has a triple-slash of .375/.458/.583 with one home run, five doubles, one triple, 12 runs scored, 10 RBI, and one stolen base. Remember, back in 2014 Wong hit 12 home runs and stole 20 bases, so there’s some potential here. Let’s break it, break it down. He’s walking 10% and striking out 14% of the time. Those are nice numbers and an improvement from his 2014/2015 numbers. BUT…they are very close to his 2016 numbers when he hit .240. The swinging strike rate hasn’t changed but the chase rate has improved by 5%. In addition, his contact on pitches outside the strike zone has increased 6%. He’s also hitting left-handed pitching very, very well so far (.333 average vs .258 career mark). Now, to the portion of the show that you’ve all been sitting on the edge of your seats for…..We are not Wong to be overlooking Kolten. The BABIP is a sky-high .353. That batting average is going to come back down to the .260-ish range. That batting average against lefties is fueled by a .385 BABIP. Nothing in the peripherals shows a drastic change that motivates me to think that his recent success is sustainable. Looks like a lot of luck. TRASH
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Rhys Hoskins (15.2% owned – increase of 11.7%)
If your fantasy squad ever has to walk down a dark alley, wouldn’t you want a Rhys Hoskins out in front? I know I would. I imagine Rhys Hoskins to be an axe-wielding Viking that would pummel anything in his path. Hey, we are talking about a fantasy team so anything could happen. If that’s not a good enough motivation, then read what Prospect Jesus wrote back in May. Since getting the call up, Rhys has batted clean up in five of six games for the Phillies. While the batting average is only at .190, the BABIP is .071 and ISO is .429. He has three home runs in six games. The strikeout rate is 16% and walk rate is 12%. What am I doing? It’s a six game sample size, so those numbers don’t really mean much. Here’s what does. He can protect your fantasy team in a future make believe fight, Prospect Jesus likes him, and he’s shown that he can hit balls very far. TREASURE
Catchers
There were four catchers that saw their ownership percentages increase by more than 10%. Tucker Barnhart (15.5% owned – increase of 13.5%), Welington Castillo (40% owned – increase of 13.6%), James McCann (39.3% owned – increase of 16.6%), and Alex Avila (50% owned – increase of 23.1%). Unless you play in a 2-catcher league, there is no reason to pay for a catcher. According to the site that shall remain nameless, but is the one that Grey despises, Buster Posey had an ADP of 43, while Roughned Odor was at 44. Susan, let’s cut to Grey right now….
Aaron Hicks (48.4% owned – increase of 16.1%)
We here at Razzball have loved Hicks for a long time now. Go check the archives. Since returning from injury, Hicks is 6-for-26 with two home runs, four runs scored, four RBI, and one stolen base. Hicks is definitely my kind of player. He’s a switch-hitter, walks 14% of the time, strikes out 17%, has a .283 average with a .304 BABIP, and the ISO is .230. He can also contribute on the bases, as he has eight stolen bases on the season. The swinging strike rate is under 10% and he only chases 20% of pitches outside the zone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYRaPfCZ5V0
