10-team leagues

Jeimer Candelario , DET 3B (35% ownership), FAAB Bid - $12 - He’s a must-own in all dynasty leagues and it has essentially reached that point in redraft’s as well. Just over his last nine games, Candelario is 10-for-31 (.322) with 12 runs scored, five extra-base hits, four RBI and five walks, so he’s doing a little of everything quite frankly. Candelario will continue to hit in front of Miguel Cabrera and Nick Castellanos so the chance at 100 runs this year is a real possibility if he continues to hit the way he has.

Tyler Chatwood , CHC SP (43% ownership), FAAB Bid - $10-13 - If we date back to the 2015 season, Chatwood has always been great away from Coors. Luckily for him, he doesn’t call Coors his home anymore. Since 2015, he has a 2.57 ERA and a .195 batting average against on the road. It’s really hard not to love the .31 HR/9 and 52.2-percent ground ball rate as well. Chatwood is the real deal now that he’s gone from Coors.

Francisco Cervelli , PIT C (61% ownership), FAAB Bid - $11-12 - It’s really crazy that Cervelli is being left in free agency in so many Yahoo! leagues right now. He’s been one of the five most productive catchers in all of fantasy baseball and that might be ranking him too low. He’s hitting .313 on the year and has driven in 20 runs which ranks him in the top-25 in the entire league, not just the NL. What’s the one thing we’ve always worried about with Cervelli? Injuries. When healthy, the guy can really hit the baseball and should be picked up yesterday if available.

 

12-team leagues

Evan Longoria , SFG 3B (71% ownership), FAAB Bid - $10 - The Giants third baseman has begun to turn it on hitting .318 with two bombs and seven RBI over the last seven days. He’s been especially good against lefties slashing .318/.362/.682 with four of his six bombs coming against them. Longoria might even be a little unlucky at the dish this season. He’s posting a career-high 49.3-percent hard hit rate and yet he’s hitting just .245. Things are beginning to balance out for him though as pointed out by his numbers over the last seven days and as an owner, you should jump on him now.

Joc Pederson , LAD OF (5% ownership), FAAB Bid - $8 - With Corey Seager hitting the shelf for the remainder of the year, the Dodgers have a ton of question marks. A few moves that are in motion now is Chris Taylor moving in to play shortstop which opens up more time in the outfield for Joc Pederson . Pederson hasn’t lived up the hype he had back when he was coming up through the Dodgers system, but maybe this is the year. He’s slashing .288/.394/.458 with a .373 wOBA, which would be a career-high mark. What he’s truly benefiting from is the fact he’s cut down on his strikeouts as his K-percentage is sitting at a career-low mark of 15.5-percent. He swiped a bag the other day as well, so maybe Pederson’s going to do a little of everything, making him worth the addition.

Tyler Mahle , CIN SP (18% ownership), FAAB Bid - $7-10 - Headed into the year, Mahle was the fifth rank prospect in the Reds system and he’s quickly showing us why. Just over his last three outings, Mahle has struck out 24 opponents over 17.1 innings including one 11 strikeout performance against Atlanta. Mahle has a 27.3-percent K-rate on the year and has an impressive 3.5:1 K:BB ratio on the season. He has an elite 11-percent SwStr rate as well, something we cannot simply ignore. To be frank, Mahle has serious upside, even in 10-team formats as well.

 

15-team leagues

Mark Trumbo , BAL OF (26% ownership), FAAB Bid -$7 - I wanted to suggest him in league’s with less owners, but I won’t do it until we see he’s healthy and stroking the baseball. This is a guy who hit 47 home runs just two seasons ago so that’s the type of upside he possesses quite frankly. If you are playing in an AL-only format you should absolutely pick him up if he’s available on waivers.

Mike Soroka , ATL SP (36% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5 - I’m not exactly ready to go ALL in on Soroka but he was mighty impressive in his first big league start against the Mets. His next go-around comes against the Giants, too, so there’s no reason to not pick him up and at least stream him for at least one more start. That said, I wouldn’t go crazy with him in redraft leagues. Soroka is a guy who struck out just 125 batters in 153.2 innings at Double-A last season.

Joey Wendle , TBR 2B (5% ownership), FAAB Bid - $2 - Wendle keeps on strokin’ it and the Rays keep on plugging him into the lineup. Before the last two games, Wendle had been riding a seven-game hit streak in which five were multi-hit contests. He’s not worth the add in anything deeper than 15 teams or AL-only because he doesn’t hit for much power, swipe many bags or play multiple positions, but the guy is hitting .326 and just does everything well.

 

*ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo

** FAAB bids based on $100 budget