10-Team Leagues

Kyle Freeland , SP COL (37% ownership), FAAB Bid - $16-17 - Freeland has been money in the bank this season, especially in May. He’s won three straight decisions in May after going just 1-4 in April. Freeland’s K/9 has jumped from 6.17 last season to 8.17 in 2018 while his walk rate’s gone from 3.63 to 3.0 per nine innings. He’s also been fantastic at limiting hard contact as opponents are only hitting it hard 25.7-percent of the time which is truly an elite mark. If Colorado’s offense ever decides to wake up, Freeland could be one of the more viable fantasy pitchers in the game if continues pitching this well.

Jose Martinez , STL 1B (71% ownership), FAAB Bid - $14-15 - It’s funny how quickly we hit the waiver wire to pick Martinez up earlier in the year and how easy it was to drop him when he struggled in late April and Early May. Martinez is back to where he was earlier in the year and whoever dropped him is regretting that now. He has three straight multi-hit games and is hitting .320 on the year. The Cardinals stuck with him when he was struggling and are now reaping the benefits and as a fantasy owner, you should too.

Vince Velásquez , PHI SP (22% ownership), FAAB Bid - $12 - Velasquez is a repeat performer here, but for good reason. He’s been pitching very well of late winning three straight decisions and sprinkling in a 12 strikeout performance in one of them. If you remove the two bad starts against the Braves this year, Velasquez’s numbers would be significantly better. His 3.63 SIERA and 3.88 xFIP are far lower than his ERA and they both indicate he’s been more unlucky than anything. Trust in Velasquez going forward for the remainder of the year.

 

12-Team Leagues

Adam Duvall , CIN OF (43% ownership), FAAB Bid - $11 - Here comes the power numbers, y’all. He has back-to-back 30 homer seasons in the prime of his career. He wasn’t going to be held down forever. He’s jacked four out in his last nine games and just over his last 10 contests he’s slashing .321/.424/.750. He’s still hitting below .200 for the year, but he has nine bombs and is playing the best baseball of his season.

Travis Jankowski , SDP OF (17% ownership), FAAB Bid - $9 - The 26-year old has not hit better than .245 at the Major League level and here we are down the stretch of May and he’s hitting .370. Just over the previous two weeks, he’s hit .405, scored 10 runs, hit a homer and swiped four bags. The stolen bases and runs is really where all his value lies and if he continues getting on base, he could be really valuable for the remainder of the season, especially with the lack of stolen bases around baseball.

Austin Meadows , PIT OF (19% ownership), FAAB Bid - $8-12 - Meadows was once one of the premier prospects in baseball before injuries sort of ruined that, but he still has all of the tools. In his Major League debut in Friday, Meadows went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Meadows is someone who can contribute in multiple facets of the game and with Starling Marte now on the disabled list he’ll be playing everyday.

 

15-Team Leagues

Dan Straily , MIA SP (3% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5-8 - We’ve seen throughout Straily’s career that he can be a really solid Major League pitcher and he’s begun to show us that this season. His last time out he throw seven scoreless innings against a red hot Atlanta Braves offense while striking out six. He’s nothing more than an SP4 or even an SP5, but he does have two wins in a row. He has three different seasons with 10-plus wins and just last year he had a career-high 8.64 K/9. If he can get to that number, we could be looking at someone we want in more than this really deep formatted leagues.

Jesus Aguilar , MIL 1B (6% ownership), FAAB Bid - $5-7 - Aguliar went deep not once, but twice on Friday night. He’s now hitting .326 on the season with five homers and 17 RBI. He continues hitting third in the Brewers lineup so the run producing opportunities are consistently there for him. The problem with owning him in leagues will less teams is the inconsistencies. He’s hitting for average sure, but he has a four game dry spell in which he didn’t drive in a run and than a four game dry spell before that.

Danny Valencia , BAL 1B, 3B, OF (3% ownership), FAAB Bid - $2 - Valencia still isn’t playing everyday, but he’s essentially been playing two out of every three games. He’s raking though, so Buck Showalter might be forced to get him into the lineup more often. Over the previous two weeks, the veteran corner infielder is hitting .435 with two bombs. He now has five homers on the year and could be a great source of essentially free power in AL-only formats.

 

*ownership percentages courtesy of Yahoo

** FAAB bids based on $100 budget