I’m not gonna lie, deep league friends, there’s probably not a lot of hope out there in most of your free agent pools if you’re looking to stop the flow of a polluted stream of fantasy disappointment. My good friend-who-I’ve-never-met, Son (who knows quite a bit about unearthing possible fantasy gems!) recently thanked me for finding deep league treasures on occasion. While I am happy to accept anything remotely resembling a compliment, I do need to alter this to remind all of us that, while we will indeed hopefully spot a true piece of gold in all of the deep-league muck, sometimes we have to settle for a few stray chips of pyrite. The good thing is that those flecks of iron sulfide might be just pretty and distracting enough to keep us going. Perhaps they’ll even have an occasional productive day at the plate or pitch a few solid innings, helping get us through the long trek that is the deep-league fantasy season. That, of course, leads us to this week’s look-see at some players who might be on the radar in NL-only, AL-only, and other deep leagues.
NL
Adam Mazur. If you missed it, Mazur recently debuted for the starting pitcher-needy Padres, and performed very nicely, allowing just one run in 6 innings against the Angels. He’s not a power pitcher, but he appears to be a good-at-inducing-weak-contact guy, and he had decent but not great strikeout numbers in the minors, with a walk rate just under 2 per 9. I have always liked a guy that’s fairly stingy with the walks, though I should mention in his one-game sample size he had four of them against just two Ks, which didn’t exactly rub me the right way. At any rate, this general skill set could lead to just about anything from him being a rookie of the year finalist to him making a couple more starts, not finding his command and getting shelled, and us never seeing him at the big league level again. But probably it’ll be somewhere in between, and many of those in-between outcomes would make him worth at least a glance in deeper leagues.
Miguel Rojas. The Dodgers might have the most top-heavy lineup in baseball, and recent disappointing performances by some of the younger players in that dicey bottom half have opened the door for more playing time for Rojas. He’s still bringing it on defense, and the bat has been strong enough to keep him not only in an MLB lineup, but also to return him to the (very) deep league fantasy radar. Think of him as a 50-year-old, poor man’s Luis Arraez. Okay, he’s “only” 35, but his career batting average is a way poorer than I realized .258. He does have twice as many homers as Arraez this season, though (yep, it’s 2 versus 1) and only one fewer steal (yep, it’s 2 versus 3).
Blake Dunn. Wasn’t it just a week or two that we were discussing how the Reds seem to have about twelve 4th and 5th outfielders? And yet another has joined the mix. I guess the fact that Spencer Steer has been playing more first base opens up a little more time in the old outfield. With Dunn, they add a right-handed bat which means he’s likely limited to facing lefties, but players with significant limitations are unfortunately what we’re usually about here at RITD. There could be enough speed and pop here to justify a a look in the deepest of leagues/daily change formats.
David Dahl. Wasn’t expecting to mention Dahl as one of the hotter-hitting Philadelphia Phillies come June, but he’s up with the team and already has produced in two games, including his first homer. The at bats may not come daily even if he stays in the majors, but his current spot on the active roster and part-time member of their outfield puts him on the deep(est) league radars. I mean, remember when we thought he might be good?
AL
Cody Poteet. Poteet is back with the Yankees with Clarke Schmidt hurt, and his last start was solid enough to, one would think, earn him continued consideration as a member of their rotation. He gave up 2 runs in 5 innings with 6 Ks to beat the Giants and now has two wins in two starts on the year, with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. He’s scheduled to pitch against the Dodgers on Friday… sounds pretty scary, unless the Dodgers have not remembered how good they are at hitting by then and/or continue to roll out the likes of Chris Taylor in their starting lineup.
Duke Ellis. If you’re looking for the 0% owned/may not even still be in the major leagues by the time you read this, 2024 version of Billy Hamilton, let me introduce you to White Sox outfielder Ellis. He’s 26 and was hitting .258 in the minors (though I should mention his OBP was .341). He’s been called up, it appears, to function as a pinch runner and already boasts the ridiculous MLB stat line of 2 games played, 0 at bats, and 2 stolen bases. Also, difficult not to give him a one-point bonus for having a great name.
Joey Estes. You know you’ve found the deep league column when we’re about to discuss two Oakland A’s starters in a row. Estes was pitching badly in the minors and pitched badly in his 2023 cup of coffee. He did, however, have an excellent start against the Mariners the other day (6.1 scoreless, one-hit innings with 5 Ks). That was enough to make his overall 2024 numbers look pretty good, and enough to get him a deep-league shout out here. While his ERA this year is still an ugly 4.67, his WHIP is under 1 and he has 25 strikeouts in 27 innings. Proceed with extreme caution, but it deserves mention that those numbers are better than a lot of meh starters many of us drafted way earlier than we should have and are inexplicably still rostering in mixed leagues.
Mitch Spence. I’m just gonna poach this one directly from Grey’s Wednesday blurb: “6 IP, 4 ER, 10 baserunners, 3 Ks, ERA at 3.86. A few people have been asking about Spence, and, honestly, I have no idea why. Fine for crazy deep leagues, but everyone is fine in those leagues.” The italics and quote marks mean that’s me quoting Grey!
That’s it for this week… thanks for reading, and I hope the fantasy baseball gods are treating you and yours well!
