Happy Tuesday, Razzballero! If you’re still checking in on the baseball side of things, it probably means that you’re still in contention in at least one of your fantasy leagues, so kudos to you for that. If you were able to win the race to the waiver wire and acquire this week’s most added player in ESPN leagues, New York Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez (58.4% owned; +46.8% over the past week), you’re probably sitting pretty right now. Not too much has changed since I highlighted him in this very column last week, except that he’s gained catcher eligibility in more formats and he’s even more white hot now than he was just a short week ago. Since last Tuesday, Sanchez has 12 hits in 25 plate appearances including 6 homers and 9 RBI over that span. His weekly triple slash line is merely a ho-hum .545/.600/1.455 while his .909 ISO looks like something you’d find on an OPS leaderboard. He’s even tossed in a steal for good measure. His .385 batting average is currently being boosted by a .405 BABIP and his 50% HR/FB is likely to be cut in half (if not more) over the long-term, but Sanchez looks like a legit .280-.285 hitter with 25-30 homer power. Think Buster Posey with a slightly lower average but more power. If you managed to grab him, enjoy the ride (and hold on for dear life dynasty leaguers!).
Here are a couple of other interesting adds/drops in fantasy baseball over the past week:
Travis Jankowski: 21.8% owned; -6.6%
From June 21st through August 6th (after Jankowski cracked the everyday starting lineup), Jankowski stole 19 bases and scored 26 runs in 143 plate appearances, managing a .274/.397/.350 slash line along the way. A mini-slump from August 7th through the 17th (40 PA, 7 hits, 3 runs, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .200/.300/.229) has caused his ownership numbers to plummet recently. Fantasy owners can be a fickle bunch sometimes. Jankowski’s 27 steals are tied for the sixth most in MLB this season, and his .363 on-base percentage (thanks to an impressive 13.4% BB%) means that his job as the Padres table-setter is likely fairly secure. Fantasy-wise, he’s what optimists hoped that a full-time Jarrod Dyson would look like back in March. If you have a need for speed and Jankowski was dumped in your league, you know what to do. TREASURE.
Dansby Swanson: 21.2% owned; +18.4%
Swanson is a name that’s likely to cause DBacks fans to vomit in their mouths a little bit every time that they hear it over the next few years thanks to the disastrous Shelby Miller trade last offseason. More importantly for fantasy owners, the former #1 overall pick in the 2015 draft was called up by the Braves last week to be their everyday shortstop the rest of the way. Unfortunately, defense is Swanson’s strong suit, and there aren’t many fantasy leagues that use defensive categories in their scoring systems. As for his bat, Swanson is advanced enough to handle himself at the big league level, but that’s about the extent of it at the moment. He managed a 54/8/45/6/.261 batting line in 377 plate appearances at the Double-A level this season, and his MLB production will likely lag behind that a bit over the season’s final six weeks. Swanson looks like a useful fantasy asset in dynasty leagues, but redrafters can probably do better down the stretch. TRASH.
