Rolling In The Deep: Coming In Hot

Hello friends! As we quickly approach Monday’s trade deadline, it’s another good time to take a step back and regroup, whether you are in a standard weekly change re-draft league or a deep mono keeper league. Player values can and likely will change in a hurry over the next several days, but there will also be a lot of fluff and unfounded rumors. We’ll see some real-life team depth chart movement no matter what, so if you have weekly waivers in your league over the weekend, it might make sense to take a few extra shots at players whose value you think could rise before their price goes up. And if you have neither a re-draft league where you are in the thick of it, nor a keeper league where you are looking to add for the future? It can still be a great opportunity for some extra early fantasy scouting for next year, as we get a better idea of where MLB teams feel they stand heading into the final two months of the season.

For now, let’s do what we do here, and take a look at some players who may not make a ping on the standard mixed league radar, but could be of interest to those of us in AL-only, NL-only, and other particularly deep leagues. This week we’ll look at players who are very recently hot — as in who’ve been hitting well just in the last week as we head into Thursday’s games — but are still less than 15% owned in Fantrax leagues.

NL

Tyrone Taylor. Taylor is hitting .357 with two homers and eight RBI for the Mets over the last week, so he’s about as hot as it gets. He’s still not playing every day, but the at bats have increased in the wake of Juan Soto’s recent trip to the IL. One disappointing thing here is that Taylor hasn’t stolen a single base so far this season. Not that he was ever a burner, but he did manage to hit double digits in steals each of the last two years in semi-regular playing time. Taylor could potentially be on the trade block, or become an even bigger fixture in the Mets outfield depending on the moves they do or don’t make. Either way, his already limited fantasy value is unlikely to change too much. That being said, we are in the land of the deep, so at just 7% owned he’s a name to at least keep an eye on in deeper leagues where the pickings are slim.

Daniel Susac. There’s never much to get excited about when it comes to backup catchers, but Susac does emerge as one of the more valuable hitters over the last week for guys under our ownership threshold. His stats basically came in one two-homer game; they were his first two homers of the season, though he is hitting a decent .256 on the year at least. Probably nothing to see here, but perhaps worth an NL-only type look in case more playing time ensues and we have a mono league hot schmotato here. If nothing else, we’ll see if this recent performance keeps Susac on the Giants’ big league roster for the time being.

Grant McCray. We stay in San Francisco to take a quick look at McCray, whose playing time in the Giants outfield has been sporadic at best since he was recalled earlier this month. Let’s just say that the bar is low when it comes to little-owned NL hitters who’ve been producing even a little of late. McCray’s one homer the other day, coupled with the fact that he’s only 2% owned, is just enough to land him a blurb this week. Clearly he’s a deep NL-only type, and given that he’s hitting just .154 on the year, who knows if he’ll continue to get chances even if at bats are available. Sometimes it does just take an opportunity though, and his profile suggests there could be a tiny bit of pop and a decent amount of speed unlocked if things ever break right. He may be worth keeping an eye on in the very deepest leagues just in case he gets a more extended look sometime between now and the end of the year.

Cionel Perez. Looking at only a week’s worth of stats is kind of a silly math trick/small sample size, I suppose, but I also find it kind of fun to see how valuable a guy who’s basically not rostered in fantasy (technically 1% owned in Fantrax in Perez’s case) can be in any given week. Perez checks in as the fifth most valuable pitcher (both starters and relievers included) in the NL over that time, as he turned in four scoreless innings with 6 Ks and a win for the Mets. As I look over rosters at this time of year trying to figure out where I have points to gain and lose, it’s good to be reminded that a solid week from a middle reliever over a questionable starter can sometimes be your best bet in certain leagues and in certain situations. Of course, picking the right reliever is the tough part, but between intuition and helpful tools like Razzball’s own Streamonator, it can certainly pay off when you make the correct decision.

AL

Taylor Trammell. Old friend Trammell has a mere 13 official at bats for the Astros over the last week, but he’s definitely made the most of them. Over that time, he’s scored five runs, hit two homers, and stolen two bases. Trammell is now 28 and on his fourth major league team (anyone remember his six at bats for the Dodgers in 2024, because I didn’t!?)  in addition to the one that drafted him. He’s still managing to prove he can contribute to a big league roster, however. He’s owned in just 3% of Fantrax leagues, but in daily or bi-weekly change leagues where he’s not scheduled for any lefty on lefty matchups, he could have another stretch or two where he outperforms expectations and offers some fantasy help.

Eduardo Valencia. Valencia has only played two games for the Tigers this week, but still ranks higher than many on the player rater over the last seven days, despite the fact that he went 0 for 6 in one of those games. He did manage to score two runs in that hitless game, though, and in the other he had four hits, two of which were homers. I should probably also mention that I believe one of the homers was hit off a position player. So yes, we’re basically talking about one huge game here, but we are also talking about a player who’s rostered in 14% of leagues and started in just 4%. He also qualifies at first base as well as (and much more importantly for fantasy purposes, of course) catcher. Since Detroit flat-out DFA’d Jake Rogers (and I see now he’s been traded to the Orioles) and they seem comfortable with Dillon Dingler DHing on at least a semi-regular basis, this may be the time to buy in on Valencia if he’s available in your league.

Ryan Kreidler. This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about Kreidler this year, but it feels like it’s time for another check-in. Like most on this list, he’s had a big week, hitting .353 with three steals. Those also happen to be his only three stolen bases on the season, but still may be worth noting if you are looking for deep-league speed, or just any at bats you can get, really. Kreidler qualifies at short and outfield in most leagues, and has also played six games at third this year. The Twins say they are buying at the deadline, so we’ll see if and where Kreidler fits in by next week. For now though, he’s proving to be a useful real-life utility player, which leads to the occasional pop of deep league fantasy value.

Andruw Monasterio. Monasterio is also someone we’ve taken a look at already this year, but he keeps resurfacing as the Red Sox already overwhelming problem with infield injuries hit a new low immediately after their ill-fated trade for Curtis Mead. It sounds like they’re trying to add yet another middle infielder before the deadline, which would obviously hurt Monasterio’s value, but his solid play of late has perhaps gone somewhat overlooked. He had a three hit game with a homer on Wednesday, and is now hitting a not-awful .259 on the season. He’s just 8% rostered, but I think he’s worth monitoring in deeper formats for now as we see how trade stuff shakes out.