Hide the women and children. It looks like there’s a zombino on the loose! Torii Hunter (+53.6%) was the most added player in fantasy baseball this past week. I can’t believe that he was even available in the first place. Torii’s a beast! Sorry comatose Twins fan, but Hunter isn’t the same 25/20 player that he was during his first stint in Minnesota. The soon-to-be 40-year-old version of Hunter has held up remarkably well throughout the years though. His .783 OPS with the Tigers over the last two seasons is identical to Evan Longoria’s and ahead of players like Albert Pujols, Kyle Seager, and Alex Gordon during that time frame. This season, with the exception of stolen bases (just 1 this season, and 7 total from 2013-14), his numbers across the board rival those of his prime days with the Twins a decade ago. Can he keep it up? Well, his 10.9% LD% is way down (18.2% career), while his 14.7% IFFB% (11.6% career) and 12.1% SwStr% (11.3% career) are up. It’s difficult to envision a player of Hunter’s age maintaining a productive pace throughout the season as well. Depending on him as a key contributor to your fantasy team is kind of like sticking a bandage on a stab wound and then just leaving it there without addressing the situation further. It might be ok in the short term, but your team is likely to bleed out eventually. Here were a couple of other big adds and drops in fantasy baseball from this past week:
Kevin Pillar – 52.3% owned (+30.6%)
Any player who plays half of his games in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre has the potential to be fantasy relevant. Pillar fits the bill. Colby Rasmus has moved on to Houston, Michael Saunders can’t seem to stay healthy, and Pillar has been the beneficiary. Everyday at-bats has resulted in a 17/1/15/5/.252 batting line thus far in 2015. This is certainly a player who seems to be capable of being an asset in the steals category. Pillar stole 27 bases in just 100 games in AAA last season, and 59 bases across three levels of competition in 2012. The cons are that he doesn’t hit for much power (6 career MLB home runs in 362 PA) and doesn’t walk very much at all (5.8% BB% or lower at AA and beyond). Juan Lagares and Gregor Blanco look like good fantasy comps here – neutral average, 6-8 homers, and a handful of steals. In shallow mixed leagues, Pillar is a matchup play or injury replacement, nothing more. TRASH.
Steven Souza – 38.6% owned (-26.7%)
I was this close to writing about Souza last week, and his ownership slide has continued into this week. Fantasy owners have undoubtedly been fed up with his streaky tendencies. Check out these seasonal splits:
• 4/6 – 4/22 (15 games played): 59 PA, 6 R, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 4 SB, 7/21 BB/K, .288/.373/.577
• 4/23 – 5/10 (16 games played): 67 PA, 7 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 0 SB, 11/25 BB/K, .145/.299/.218
Quite a difference. The plate discipline numbers are similar, but Souza’s power and speed seem to have disappeared over the last 16 games. What’s the deal? Well, a player who strikes out as much as Souza does (36.5% K%) tends to be more susceptible to luck. While his BABIP through April 22nd was .407, that number fell all the way down to .241 over the following 16 games. However, 20/20 players are quite rare these days. Only five players managed to accomplish that feat in 2014. After going 18/26 in AAA across 96 games last season and 15/20 in AA across 77 games in 2013, Souza possesses the power/speed combo to accomplish that rare feat. Unless he cuts down on that elevated strikeout rate, a .225 batting average is a distinct possibility, but he has the ability to fill up the stat sheet. TREASURE.
