10-Team Leagues

Ryon Healy , SEA 1B, 3B (41% ownership), FAAB Bid - $12 - It’s been an up and down season for Healy, but he’s currently on another hot streak. During the five-game hitting streak he’s currently on, he has blasted four homers, giving him 13 already this year. That actually puts him on pace to hit 30 for the year and that’s only in a projected 123 games. If Healy can actually stay healthy for the remainder of the year he has tremendous home run upside, especially if the Mariners offense continues to click because that will open up more doors in the run production avenue as well.

Carlos Rodon , CWS SP (33% ownership), FAAB Bid - $14 - I can understand the hesitation with picking up Rodon in leagues that favor wins, but other than that this guy should be owned across the board. In his first two starts back he’s limited two of the better offenses in baseball in Boston and Cleveland to two runs each and has struck out 11 opponents over the 10 frames he’s completed. Something interesting to note if you were worried about him at all in terms of velocity is that his 94.2 MPH fastball he’s averaging through two games is tied for his fastest fastball velo of his career, just in case you were wondering.

Tyler Skaggs , LAA SP (63% ownership), FAAB Bid - $13-15 - I think a lot of people have been waiting for the regression or mainly the season-ending injury that he seems to have every year, but neither seem to be in sight. Skaggs has been great, striking out over a batter per inning leading to a career best 25.9-percent K-rate. He’s upped his groundball rate from 41.8-percent to 47.5 this season, another big improvement. Something interesting that Skaggs has done is he’s thrown his fastball 14-percent less than he did last year while increasing the amount he throws everything else, mainly his slider which is up 10-percent from 2017. He’s a very strong SP3 with SP2 upside right about now.

 

12-Team Leagues

Tom Murphy , COL C (2% ownership), FAAB Bid - $6 - Since being called up on June 12, Murphy has caught three of the four games the Rockies have had and he’s gone 5-for-13 (.385 AVG) at the dish. Rockies brass has come out and said they want Murphy to be their everyday catcher, so that’s a huge plus. He was demolishing baseballs at Triple-A hitting 16 homers in 49 games while posting a .289/.359/.642 slash line. Chris Iannetta hasn’t played well all year and Murphy shouldn’t have a hard time completely taking the job from him as long as he continues to hit like he did at Triple-A and in his first three games this season in the Majors.

Chad Kuhl , PIT SP (17% ownership), FAAB Bid - $7-8 - Kuhl isn’t the sexiest pickup in the world, but he’s been getting the job done. He makes for a really solid SP4 right now and he makes improvements in the walks department, he could be even better. He’s posted a quality start of one earned run or less in four of his last five outings and has actually allowed three earned or less in five straight. Kuhl’s been extremely consistent in the strikeout department punching out at five or more in eight consecutive outings which has allowed him to post a career-high 22.1-percent K-rate.

Seth Lugo , NYM SP, RP (51% ownership), FAAB Bid - $9-11 - A lot of people have bought into Seth Lugo and you should too. Just in the last day he was added in 42-percent of Yahoo! leagues. He didn’t have a stellar outing on Friday allowing five earned, but he still struck out seven opponents, which is the second straight time he’s struck out a minimum of seven. He has a career-high 27.3-percent K-rate and is limiting hard contact to 26.5-percent which in comparison to last year is nearly 10 percentage points lower. He has a tough task ahead of him pitching in Colorado for his next start, but after that, he should be back on track. And to all those worried about him losing his spot in the rotation, don’t be. With a Jacob deGrom trade likely happening, Lugo should remain in the rotation going forward. The Mets could also be using Lugo as trade bait and the best way to do that is to showcase him.

 

15-Team Leagues

Jake Bauers , TBR 1B (7% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5-6 - If you still need a replacement for Miguel Cabrera , Bauers could be your guy. He’s had some decent years in the minors including a 13 home run, 20 stolen base season at Triple-A just last year. That’s the type of potential he has at the bigs too as we’ve already seen the power at the Big League level. I’m sure guys like Ryon Healy , Yonder Alonso and John Hicks were you first choices, but Bauers makes for a fine pickup in his own right, especially in leagues where the others are gone.

Freddy Galvis, SDP SS (4% ownership), FAAB Bid - $1 - If you’re desperate at the shortstop position which could be the case if you didn’t land a Machado or Lindor in your draft, Galvis could be an option. He’s been producing runs at a pretty high clip of late driving in nine over his last seven games. His 28 RBI rank ahead of other SS such as Tim Anderson , Marcus Seimen, Trea Turner and Dansby Swanson who are all players that are owned pretty much across the board in fantasy leagues. The .242 average won’t rise too high, but his 38.5-percent hard-hit rate will help him turn some of the outs he’s currently making into hits very soon.

Jonathan Loaisiga , NYY SP (6% ownership), FAAB Bid - $1-2 - I know he’s only made one start above Double-A in his professional career, but he looked really good on Friday doing it. Albeit it came against Tampa Bay, but he threw five scoreless innings while striking out six. With Masahiro Tanaka currently on the disabled list, Loaisiga should continue to get a shot every fifth day. Until Tanaka returns, he’s worth owning. He could even be worth stashing depending on how he pitches going forward if he in fact pitches well.

*ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo

** FAAB bids based on $100 budget