Salutations and other greetings, deep leaguers; let’s try to keep things rocking and rolling as we inch closer to the halfway point of the season. We may be getting to the part of the year in re-draft leagues where it’s hard not to lose hope if your team is mired at the bottom of the standings, but it’s also never too early to start scouting for the future. And in keeper or dynasty leagues, this is of course even more true, and there’s continued to be a decent amount of MLB roster movement lately. It amazes me how often I tune in to watch a few minutes of a game to see a player that I’m unfamiliar with, or didn’t realize was up from the minors, at bat. I’m also often surprised to see how well a player that I thought was struggling has been doing, or how much a guy who I thought had been mashing at the plate has been slumping. It’s not as fun paying attention to games when your fantasy team is struggling, but sometimes I have to remind myself that the fact that I really enjoy watching baseball is why I got into this in the first place. Anyhow, let’s take our weekly look at some players who those of us in deeper leagues may want to check in on, and this week we’ll incorporate some more “medium-deep” guys, starting as high as a 20% ownership threshold in Fantrax leagues.
NL
Kyle Karros (20% owned). Karros is likely rostered in your garden variety NL-only league and deeper, but if someone gave up on him in a medium-deep league, he may be worth a second look as the summer heats up. Even in Colorado, Karros doesn’t profile as a guy who’s going to rack up fantasy stats when he’s going well, but that won’t stop me from pointing out that he is going very well lately. He’s hitting. 400 over the last two weeks, with a handful of multi-hit games. He only has one homer over that time, but it wasn’t even in Colorado.
Jacob Webb (11% owned). Webb bumps his ownership up from 8% when I started writing this blurb, to 11% after a save for the Cubs on Wednesday (albeit while giving up the aforementioned Kyle Karros homer — RITD synergy!) Again, he’s not going to be available in anything remotely resembling a deep NL-only format, I’m sure, but it may be worth keeping him on the radar for shallower leagues as well. He also may get jettisoned by some owners if the Cubs go closer by committee and Caleb Thielbar (who may also be worth a look-see if he’s available) or someone else gets the next save with Daniel Palencia hurt again. This may be a situation that gets old in a hurry from a fantasy perspective, and the reality is that those are the situations we deep leaguers often need to pounce on. Webb has solid K/9 and K/BB numbers (37 Ks and 10 walks in 31.2 innings), but the 1.295 WHIP is a little off-putting, so we’ll see how this one plays out.
Esteury Ruiz (11% owned). We’ve already chatted about Ruiz once this season, but it’s time for another quick check-in, as he’s by far the hottest hitter in baseball over the last two weeks, who is less than 15% owned in Fantrax leagues. He’s hitting a ridiculous .429 for the Marlins over that time, with a homer and four steals. Speaking of steals, if my math is correct, it was just three years ago that this guy set the AL rookie record for stolen bases and was a one-man fantasy category winner.
Matt Svanson (7% owned). Svanson was an absolute dumpster fire early on this season, after coming into the year with a ton of sleeper hype as a guy who could end up closing for the Cardinals. He was ultimately demoted, but is now back with the big club after a tidy run at Triple-A, where he pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings with 8 Ks and 1 walk. He’s got a long way to go before re-establishing himself as a legitimate back-end-of-the-bullpen threat, but I’m taking a chance on him in a deep league that uses saves plus holds. Will I regret it? Quite possibly, but we have to take some shots in the deepest leagues, and it may be time for him to be back on the keeper league radar.
Brett Sullivan (2% owned). Sullivan makes this post as the highest ranking (in 5×5 value) NL hitter over the last two weeks who is also less than 5% owned. No, that’s not saying much, but positive value is positive value, especially for a player who qualifies at catcher, and another Rockie no less. His overall average is still at just .218, and the guy is 32 years old, but I will say that Sullivan is playing more than I realized, and he’s got four homers in his 101 at bats this year.
AL
Kahlil Watson (19% owned). Watson was likely snapped up, if he wasn’t rostered already, in the deepest leagues after he was recalled on Wednesday by the Guardians in light of the injuries to Jose Ramirez, Chase deLauter, and Angel Martinez. We should probably mention that he doesn’t yet have a major league at bat under his belt as I write this. If he can translate any of the impressive power/speed combo he displayed in the minors this year (12 homers and 14 steals) to the majors, though, he could enter the shallower league discussion pretty quickly. He also qualifies at both short and outfield in many leagues. Watson is a left-handed hitter, and while he’s not in the lineup for Thursday’s game, it’s hard to believe the playing time won’t be there given how banged-up the team is. Time will tell if Watson can make that pesky leap to major league-caliber pitching.
Mason Barnett (15% owned). Barnett has pitched just 11.2 innings in what has been one of the messiest bullpens in one of the messiest years ever for saves (that would be the pen of the A’s), but his numbers in this small sample are excellent. In addition to a two-inning, four strikeout save, Barnett has both an ERA and WHIP of 0.77. He was being treated as a starter in the minors, so we’ll see what the future holds for him, but things are looking promising so far at least.
Romy Gonzalez (13% owned). Gonzalez is probably still about a week away from returning from the IL, but he’s this week’s injury stash shout-out if he’s floating around unowned in your deep league. He had some sleeper appeal this offseason over a solid 96 games played for Boston in 2025, but hasn’t taken an at bat yet this year due to a shoulder injury. The Red Sox can use any offensive spark they can get right now, so the playing time should be there for Gonzalez when he’s ready. He’s also another guy who qualifies at both first and second in most leagues and offers that MI/CI dual eligibility that can be so very, very handy.
Alika Williams (4% owned). The tables have turned a bit, and the AL free agent pool is more picked over than it has been in a while after a small flurry of new names and new hope, at least in my leagues. Williams is just 4% owned, and like Sullivan above, has the highest 5×5 value over the last two weeks for a less than 5% owned player in his respective league. He qualifies at second, short, and third in most leagues, which, of course, is always a welcome deep-league attribute. The 27-year old former Pirate may be a bench guy at best when the rest of the A’s hitters are healthy, but he’s been holding his own and then some with a .407 average and a homer over that two-week span.
