Rolling In The Deep: In The Nick Of Time

Happy May!  The first month of the baseball season has come and gone, and for better or worse we should be getting a pretty good idea of whether or not we’ve drafted competitive fantasy baseball teams.  In deep leagues, there may not be too much we can do to improve our teams’ weaknesses, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying.  Let’s look at another list of players — focusing almost exclusively on guys with minuscule ownership numbers according to CBS Sports, as we are wont to do here at Rolling In The Deep — that may be available and of potential interest to those of us in NL-only, AL-only, and other very deep leagues.

NL

Yadiel Hernandez (2% owned).  I feel like Hernandez got snapped up in most of my deep leagues ages ago, so was surprised to see he’s still only 2% owned.  I’m not sure when Juan Soto will make it back to full health, and obviously Hernandez’s playing time will take a serious hit when that happens, but that’s actually one of the reasons I’m paying attention to him now.  He’s had a pretty amazing run in his first 38 at bats for the Nationals, hitting .393 (.448 OBP) with a homer and two steals.  For the time being he’s proved himself a more than capable 4th outfielder/injury fill-in if nothing else, and in very deep leagues I can see rostering him even after Soto is back — if he gets dropped in any of my NL-only leagues once this happens, I’ll probably scoop him up and see where the rest of the season takes him if I have room to stash him.

Nick Maton (2%).  Much like Hernandez, Maton is already owned in my NL-only leagues, but I’d probably grab him at this point if he wasn’t.  Didi Gregorius appears to be back and healthy and Jean Segura may be soon to follow for the Phillies so, also like the situation with Hernandez, Maton may be running out of at regular bats in the immediate future.  He, too, though, has provided himself a solid fill-in at the major league level, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Maton supplant Brad Miller as a utility man/back up.  It also wouldn’t surprise me to see Maton demoted so that he can get regular at bats (he hadn’t played higher than double A before his recent call-up), but I’m keeping an eye on him either way.  He has a reputation for being an excellent defender thoughout his minor league career, having a great attitude and desire to play every day, and it’s not exactly like Scott Kingery looks to be a big part of the Phillies’ infield future any longer.  (Note:  just about to turn this post in and seeing a new note that perhaps some of you will also notice, saying the the Phillies are discussing giving Maton a crack at playing in the outfield, where I believe he has literally no experience… not the worst idea I’ve heard this year, and definitely ups the Maton intrigue level a notch).

Harrison Bader (6%).  Bader is back from the IL after a forearm injury, and based on his usage since he was activated (i.e., he started the Cardinals’ last four games), he’s due to see plenty of playing time.  Bader has yet to show much at the big league level regardless of how often he starts, but the Cardinals back up outfielders did even less in terms of fighting him for at bats over the first month of the season.  Those who are in leagues deep enough to give him a look-see should expect what we’ve gotten from him in the past — lots of strikeouts, a bad average, but a steal here and there and perhaps even some occasional pop.

Ka’ai Tom (1%).  In a handful of at bats with the A’s and now as a member of the Pirates, Tom hasn’t done much to inspire any fantasy interest, with just 2 hits in his first 20 at bats.  What he does have going for him is that he’s now playing for a team that’s about as desperate for outfielders as any team in baseball.  One would think the Pirates wouldn’t have claimed him off waivers if they weren’t planning to give him a serious look, so while hitting success from Tom is somewhat hard to imagine at the moment (as I write this I don’t think he has a single knock since he joined Pittsburgh), the opportunity is there.

Jorge Mateo (3%).  It’s hard to get excited about a 4th outfielder who’s hitting .219, but welcome once again to the deepest end of fantasy baseball. Backing up the likes of Tommy Pham and Trent Grisham — talented guys who have proven to be injury-prone at this point in their careers, including this season — should get Mateo more at bats than many fourth OFs.  Even when the Padres outfield is healthy they’ll need rest to avoid said injuries, as I’m sure they are mentally preparing to be playing well into October.  Mateo has over 2800 minor league at bats but is still only 25, and in 2019 at triple A his numbers were most excellent:  .289 with 19 homers and 24 steals.

AL

Hyeon-Jong Yang (1%).  A MLB-untested pitcher getting thrown into the fire is always a dicey proposition (Yang played 13 years in Korea where he was a starting pitcher), but Yang has looked good at least at the start of his big league career.  He’s allowed just 2 runs and has struck out 5 in 8.2 innings coming out of the bullpen (two appearances of 4.1 innings each). The Rangers have now said they’ll be evaluating Yang as a starter, which is not a huge surprise given some of the recent struggles of their current rotation, and the fact that Yang is a lefty adds a bit to his intrigue.  His career ERA in Korea stands at 3.83, which isn’t so inspiring, but he was the KBO MVP in 2017 and also had a stellar 2019, so we’ll see how this one plays out.

Brett Phillips (1%).  Phillips will never pile up the at bats, but has been hitting well of late when he does get the opportunity, going 5 for 13 with a homer and 2 steals in his last 5 games played (he has one homer and 3 total steals on the year in 33 at bats).  Occasionally more at bats are not your friend in deep leagues, like the AL-only one where I’ve had Phillips’ Rays teammate Yandy Diaz sitting in my utility spot all year.  In almost three times as many ABs, all Diaz has done is hand me a horrible empty .226 average without a home run or a steal, and I’m realizing I’d be better off with a guy like Phillips who hasn’t gotten enough time at the plate to hurt my average, but could ultimately make a couple points difference in steals alone over the course of the season.  (And if you’re reading this, Yandy, and want to take it as incentive to start hitting, that’d be okay too).

Tyler Chatwood (2%).  I thought Chatwood might make a nice flyer last year (I was, ahem, incorrect), and after he ended up in the Toronto bullpen for 2021 he wasn’t on even the deepest deep-league radar.  I was taken aback to see his numbers so far this year, however, and thereby felt the need to at least point them out.  He’s made only 8 appearances (8.1 innings), so it’s the definition of a small sample size, but in those appearances he has yet to allow an earned run (cue the giant blowup from him the minute I turn this post in) and has 12 strikeouts.  Obviously there’s some regression coming, but seeing a meh starting pitcher suddenly turn fairly dominant after shifting to the pen is a story we’ve see before and has me keeping a far-away squinty eye on him.

Leury Garcia (2%).  Garcia might have earned a mention anyway after his big double header over the weekend, which included 5 RBI and a steal, and now he should get more playing time given that the White Sox are a man down after Luis Robert’s injury.  Garcia qualifies at 2B, SS, and OF in many leagues, and while regular at bats could lead to some ugly numbers in terms of average, they may also lead to some counting stats including a handful of steals for the speed-needy.  Garcia’s 2019 was surprisingly not bad:  in 140 games, he hit .279 with 8 homers and 15 stolen bases.