It’s late may and another minor league phenom has made it to the majors. Juan Soto made a grand entrance in his second major league at bat and went opposite field for a 422 foot 3-run home run in the second inning in front of the National’s home crowd. What a moment. One day before that, big name prospect in the Pirate’s organization, Austin Meadows, hit his first career home run in front of his home crowd. Although Austin Meadows isn’t a power hitter, he can provide big league value in other ways. Just short of a month ago, Ronald Acuna Jr., made his debut for the Braves with a furious first week. Despite all of the young excitement around the league, there are savvy vets all over the majors that will help you win fantasy baseball championships. Also there is an under-performing potential superstar that I have been wanting to write about for weeks. It’s that time of week again to take a look at the player rater and find some value.
Shortstop
Jean Segura – Our #11 player on the rater has found a cozy spot in the Mariners line up at the two hole. Segura was being drafted at a reasonable adp of 75, but his most consistent asset is the fact that he has stolen at least 20 bases in every full season as a pro. We still have little over a week left in May and Segura has already piled up 11 swipes to go along with more than 30 rbis and runs each. Segura is hitting .323 and if he keeps it up this would be his 3rd straight season with at least a .300 batting average. Fantasy players that drafted him are getting their money’s worth so far.
Trea Turner – He’s flat out not living up to his first round pick at this point but things aren’t as bad as they seem. Sure, he has only stolen one base in the month of May, and yeah, he’s also hitting under .250 this month, but Trea is coming into Tuesday night with two straight multi-hit and multiple rbi games. His 29 runs on the season aren’t too shabby either. Turner does come in at #27 on the player rater and perhaps you could nudge a frustrated owner into a trade that will return good value to you. He probably won’t be stealing 50 bases at this point but I think he’ll start swiping bags again soon.
Outfield
Tommy Pham – We all know that Grey wasn’t big on him in the offseason, but Tommy is holding up his end of the bargain so far for his owners. Pham came into the season with an adp of #57 but is holding onto a spot in the back end of the top 20 on the player rater. Pham hasn’t hit a home run in 6 games, nor has he stolen a base in 10, but he is clinging onto a +.300 batting average by a smidge and scored 5 runs last week, bringing his run total to 35. If you believe, Grey’s preseason sentiments, now might be the perfect time to sell. But, if you are a corrective eye surgery truther, this doesn’t surprise you at all.
First Base
C.J. Cron – Cron is still available in almost 40% of ESPN leagues and he’s hitting .278 with 11 home runs. Talk about dirt cheap power. He’s hit 16 home runs in each of his past three seasons coming into this year, but he has never logged more than 450 at bats. He comes in at #44 on the player rater so far. His strike out rate hasn’t been desirable over the past two seasons, but he is a +.260 hitter for his career so he shouldn’t murder your batting average.
Second Base/Third Base/Shortstop
Asdrubal Cabrera – After peaking in 2011 with the Cleveland Indians while logging 25 home runs and 17 stolen bases, Cabrera has seemed to learn how to hit again. At 32 years old, his days of stealing any bases are behind him, but he is hitting .325 and already has 27 rbis on the season. He is currently on pace for 20+ home runs, plus he has been hitting in the two hole. At #56 on the player rater, he’s not somebody I’d try to target in a trade, but definitely someone that I am keeping in my lineup with all of that position eligibility.
