Well, friends, last week was a tough one for most of my fantasy teams. I’ve had plenty of ups and downs this month, but felt like things were under control until about a week ago, when a horrible combination of bad decision-making and unfortunate luck led to some massive hits in the standings. I was a day late and/or a dollar short on several players that could have helped my teams, but I’m trying to re-group and trying to remember that every roster spot on every team can make a difference, even when my options to replace hurt or underperforming players are limited. It’s still early, and thankfully we once again have a 162-game season to work with, so time to press on and hope all of the decisions we make are the right ones. On that note, let’s take a look at some little-owned players who may be of help in AL-only, NL-only, and other deep leagues.
AL
Sam Haggerty (4% owned in CBS leagues). Speaking of being a day late and a dollar short, here’s one of the guys who got scooped up in my AL-only league recently that I wish I’d made a bigger push for. He may not play every day and he may never be a big producer, but he’s already providing decent deep-league value in terms of counting stats compared to a lot of the under-the-radar outfielders that I took a chance on this year. In 14 games for the Mariners (37 at bats), Haggerty is hitting .270 with 8 runs scored, 2 homers, and 3 steals. It’s those stolen bases that I most wish were on my AL-only team, as I’m not surprisingly finding speed particularly hard to come by on the deep-league waiver wire. We’ll see how playing time in the Seattle outfield keeps shaking out, but Haggerty looks to be a legitimate part of the mix given Taylor Trammel’s struggle to hit at the big league level, Kyle Lewis’ disappointing (so far) return from the IL, and no set timetable as to when Jarred Kelenic will make his major league debut.
Nicky Lopez (7% owned). It wasn’t an exciting move, but I just picked up Lopez in an AL-only league where he was (sadly) the best thing available on waivers over the weekend. I’m hoping for, well just about anything in terms of production from my MI spot, which has been a black hole of fantasy nothingness so far in 2021. In 20 games for the Royals this year, Lopez is hitting .278 with a .344 OBP (though unfortunately those numbers are likely to come down as his career numbers are .233/.285 in 179 games going back to 2019). Also, the power is basically non-existent. But anyone who’s playing has a chance to put up some counting stats, and Lopez is in the starting lineup again Monday, and has already tripled and scored a run while I was writing this blurb. Woo hoo!
Harold Castro (1% owned). Castro qualifies at 1B and OF in most leagues, plus he’s already appeared in 3 games at 2B for the Tigers this year. His fantasy value is obviously limited since he’s never been either a big power or speed guy, but he does bring a .298 career batting average to the table and has gotten off to a nice start in that category again this year (6 for 20 on the season, plus 2 walks). On Monday Castro finds himself in the starting lineup batting second, so it appears he may get a decent chance to see if he can make a bigger impact than some of the other players who’ve given it a try in Detroit this year. That bar is pretty low, it turns out, and if nothing else Castro may be able to supplant the once-again-disappointing Niko Goodrum, who’s hitting .204 with a rather shocking 23 Ks in 54 ABs, as a super-utility guy who finds himself in the starting lineup on a fairly regular basis.
NL
Pavin Smith. Smith was 9% owned a couple days ago when I decided he might be a name to mention this week, and in the last 48 hours he’s up to 17% owned, which perhaps takes him out of very deep-league consideration as he’s likely long gone in some NL-only type formats. Even with the leap in ownership I’ll keep him on this list though, as he may warrant consideration in slightly shallower leagues if he’s able to keep producing the way he has been of late for the Diamondbacks. After a big doubleheader against the Braves on Sunday (4 for 8 with a homer and a triple), Smith raised his season average from .259 to .288 in one day. He’s only 25, qualifies at 1B and OF in most leagues, so let’s see if he can carve out a more permanent claim to playing time while he’s getting opportunities with Ketel Marte, Christian Walker, and Tim Locastro all shelved for the time being.
Yonathan Daza (5% owned). Daza may not be an every day player for the Rockies, but he has appeared in a surprisingly high number (to me, anyway) of games (17) including 10 appearances in the outfield and starting all three games against the Phillies last week. His .325 average so far may not be sustainable, but in Colorado anything is possible, right? (Especially for a guy who, while never showing much power, hit between .303 and .370 on the year over his last six minor league seasons). He hasn’t stolen a base yet this year, but he may even be a sneaky source of speed, having swiped bases in the double-digits four of his last six minor league years, including 31 in 2017.
Jake Marisnick. (1% owned). If you just want to go with the relatively hot hand, you may want to take a glance at Marisnick, who went 4 for 12 with a homer and 7 RBI last week (granted, most of that came in one blowout game against the Brewers). I think I almost had my official Razzball card revoked when I revealed during the Perts draft that I’m not a big Ian Happ fan, but one of the reasons that I didn’t draft Happ at all this year is the fact that the Cubs don’t seem interested in letting him play every day whether he’s hitting or not (and last I checked, he’s not hitting that much so far in 2021). When you combine that with Joc Pederson’s wrist injury and good health from Jason Heyward being far from a given, the Cubs outfield is one of those situations that warrants monitoring in very deep leagues even though those in standard leagues can blissfully avoid it altogether. I’m not expecting another 5-RBI game from Marisnick any time soon, just saying that if he continues to get even occasional starts Marisnick could have a bit of value in the deepest leagues.
