Rolling In The Deep: Will It Be A Vaughn-defrul Year?

Happy May, deep leaguers! For me, this has been one of those weeks where it’s been better to have been desperate than good. I have so many injured starting pitchers on a couple of teams that I was forced to start Janson Junk against the Dodgers in two leagues this week. (And they weren’t even two of my deeper leagues!) Well, somehow Junk came through for me with a gem of a start, even picking up one of those hard-to-come-by W’s. In one league, it was satisfying to see the team that had outbid me on Payton Tolle suffer through a clunker from him this week, watching his best laid plans go awry while I successfully sailed through on a wing and a prayer. It’s a reminder that no matter how much research and work we put into this on our end, fantasy baseball has a huge and unpredictable human element that all of the projection systems and theoretically good decisions in the world can’t always figure out. It’s also a reminder that occasionally we can find help from unexpected sources, which brings us back to the deep league conversation. Let’s check in on this week’s list of players who’ve either been getting a surprising amount of playing time, or have been productive in limited at bats lately, but are still less than 15% owned in Fantrax leagues.

(First, one more note: I noticed this week that I had to wade way further down the list of players, as ranked by overall roto value over the last two weeks, to find anyone that slipped through the ownership cracks and had been producing much at all. I think that’s probably expected about five weeks into the season, as this always seems to be one of those low-point dips in terms of the waiver wire or free agent pool being picked clean, even in shallower leagues. So, it’s obviously going to be especially tough for us deep leaguers. Just know that things will hopefully improve at least a little soon enough, once we’re more clear of potential service time issues when it comes to call ups, as well as teams just needing more reinforcements overall as the dog days of summer approach.)

AL

Vaughn Grissom (14% owned). Another one of those “here we go again” players, but just in case this is the time Grissom finally makes good on opportunity, it wouldn’t be out of the question that there could be some deep or even deep-ish league value here. It’s honestly difficult to care or keep track of what’s going on with the Angels these days, and that’s coming from someone in So Cal, so it’s pretty hard to imagine how far off the radar they are for the rest of the country. Grissom has now played in 13 games, and has an obviously unsustainable yet still intriguing .342 average to go along with a homer and 6 RBI. I think the thing that stands out most to me in this tiny sample size, though, is the fact that he’s struck out just 3 times but has already drawn 6 walks. It appears he’s already being looked at as more than a short-side platoon second baseman, since he’s also played four games at first as well as a game at third. For now, I think he should be owned in any AL-only format and perhaps in deeper mixed keeper leagues as we see what develops here.

Darell Hernaiz (7% owned). Hernaiz has had opportunity but hasn’t quite capitalized, but still may be worth a deep-league watch. He qualifies at short and third in most leagues, so at least the dual CI/MI eligibility is a beautiful thing when it comes to pasting a roster together out of scraps. (He’s also played both second base and outfield already this year for the A’s, for what that’s worth). Hernaiz is in the starting lineup batting fifth on Thursday, so we’ll see if he can improve upon his Mendoza-line (literally at .200 as I type this) average and earn continued opportunities. If he can go on even a mini-tear at some point, his value could rise in a hurry if he’s still hitting in the middle of what can be an incredibly productive lineup, in what can be an incredibly fantasy-friendly home park. Those are two pretty big ifs, though.

Jake Fraley (9% owned). Another old friend who we haven’t talked about in a while, but is still bouncing around out there just enough to be included in the current deep league conversation. As with many, if not most, of the Rays hitters, Fraley’s playing time will come sporadically and at times unpredictably. At 30, he also seems to be well past the point of ever being a legitimate enough power/speed threat to work his way back to anything resembling standard mixed league relevance. That being said, he’s doing just enough to be potentially useful for a true deep leaguer, hitting a not-hurtful .250 with a .328 OBP, with a pair of homers plus a pair of steals. Maybe he’ll have one or two hot schmotato runs of production in him this summer, if you can just catch him at the right time in the right league.

Nick Loftin (4% owned). This is a case of quantity over quality, as Loftin has been getting solid playing time over the last week but has yet to capitalize by turning it into production. Well, he doesn’t have a home run or a stolen base yet this year, but he does have 7 RBI, so there’s that.  Loftin came into the season qualifying only at OF in most leagues, but he’s turned into a true utility man early for the Royals, having appeared at first, second, and third as well as the outfield. He’s not going to turn into a fantasy stud any time soon, but he could ultimately help provide the classic trickle of counting stats that we ultra deep leaguers depend on when it comes to filling out the back end of our rosters.

NL

Ty France (9% owned in Fantrax leagues). Over the last week, France checks in at an eye-popping #11 when it comes to overall 5 x 5 hitting value. He’s got two homers, a steal, and a cool .400 average. Obviously, this kind of production can’t continue, but it’s certainly worth noting that he may have earned more playing time in San Diego, if nothing else. France has appeared in 17 games at first base, but also has one game filling in for Manny Machado at third. Given that France also played a fair amount at second back in the day, he could have continued deep league value if he can establish himself as the top option as an infield super-sub for the Padres.

Pedro Pages (12% owned). We’ll see how playing time at catcher continues to shake out in St. Louis, but Pages has been holding his own at the plate as well lately. I drafted Pages in a league to back up Ivan Herrera until Herrera gained catcher eligibility, but once that happened, it turns out I maybe shouldn’t have been so quick to instantly bench Pages. In the last week, Pages only has 11 ABs, but has turned them into a .455 average with two homers, and even chipped in a steal. There’s no reason to think that he won’t be able to continue contributing at least a little on the power front even in limited playing time, so he might be worth monitoring in slightly shallower leagues as the season continues to unfold.

Tyrone Taylor (4% owned). Even with Juan Soto back, the Mets outfield is a bit of a dumpster fire within a dumpster fire, fueled by the fact that Luis Robert has now hit the IL. Perhaps Taylor will continue to see at bats only/mostly against lefties or late in games after coming in as a defensive replacement, or perhaps he’ll move a noticeable notch up the depth chart. No one’s gonna get excited to add Taylor to their fantasy team in even the deepest leagues, but he hasn’t been a complete offensive black hole this year, with 2 homers and 7 RBI in his 47 at bats. He hasn’t stolen a base yet, but one would think he’ll run from time to time with continued opportunities.

Jorbit Vivas (8% owned). Pros: Qualifies at both second and third in most leagues, started six of seven games for the Nationals the last week, part of what has been a pretty good offense lately, only 25 years old, has an excellent .295 average and .389 OBP. Cons: Not really into things like “fantasy counting stats,” as he has neither a home run nor a stolen base yet this year in his 25 games played. Unfortunately, that one con is likely enough to negate the entire list of pros in most leagues, but as we say here at RITD, beggars can’t exactly be choosers.