Elsewhere in this expansive Draft Guide, you’ll find another article written by yours truly in which the virtue of drafting multi-category contributors is extolled. The assignment for this article is to address contributors to specific categories, which could easily lead to the author contradicting himself across two articles. But into no such trap will we fall. What was said about the importance of multi-category contributors was meant, so we will focus here only on players that help significantly in a single category but don’t hurt you too much in others.

Home Runs

Of the 26 hitters that Steamer projections have pegged for 30 or more home runs this season, only four are going outside the top 100 in current ADP and 17 of them are going inside the top 50. Power is popular in fantasy, and it’s arguably the hardest category in which to find value. But there may be a chance to find some rare value in a guy going just outside the top 50 in ADP, Rhys Hoskins.

Hoskins made his debut last season and popped 18 home runs in 212 PA. The 31.6 percent HR/FB rate that led to those 18 home runs is unsustainable, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still going to be an excellent source of power. His power sustainability comes from his batted ball profile as he leans heavily toward the fly ball end of the spectrum. His 0.68 GB/FB ratio last season ranked 11th out of 349 hitters with 200 or more PA. He also had the fourth best hard contact rate among those 349 hitters. If you can’t do that math, lots of fly balls plus hard-hit balls will equal home runs, even if not quite at a 31.6 percent HR/FB rate.

The best part about Hoskins’ power is that it isn’t accompanied by an all-or-nothing plate discipline profile. Hoskins only struck out 21.7 percent of the time in his debut, and we’re all too familiar with young power hitters striking out at a 30 percent clip or greater when they first reach the majors. Hoskins also walked at a 17.5 percent rate and showed solid plate discipline numbers throughout the minors, so there’s little concern that his power is going to come at the expense of a batting average drag.

It would be nice if Hoskins played first base since he’s not going to steal many bases, and that’s something you’d prefer to get from an outfielder. But with Carlos Santana now on board, Hoskins should play almost exclusively in the outfield. That said, Santana is one piece of what should be a better Philly lineup, which will help Hoskins rack up more runs and RBI. Altogether, we’re looking at a guy that could well finish in the top 25 in home run totals and the biggest concern we have is a lack of speed. Sign me up.

One other quick note. Above we mentioned that only four of the players projected for 30 or more home runs are going outside the top 100 in ADP. Three of those four guys have batting average projections below .240, but with a .248 batting average projection, Justin Smoak is the one guy out of those four that is worth considering. Smoak is being drafted after two of those other three (Joey Gallo and Matt Olson), so if you end up looking for a pure power option later in your draft, Smoak in the 12th round or so is a good option.

Stolen Bases

Last year only nine players averaged a stolen base per 17 PA or less. The obvious names like Trea Turner, Billy Hamilton and Dee Gordon top that list, but after those three we’ve got guys like Rajai Davis, Cameron Maybin, Jarrod Dyson and Ben Revere who are unlikely to see anything close to regular playing time this season. Following that group, we can start to find some fantasy value, and Starling Marte really sticks out with a stolen base every 16.1 PA last season.

Marte only played 77 games last year thanks to a PED suspension, but he has topped 500 PA in every other season since becoming a regular. If he maintains something close to the stolen base rate he had last season, we’re looking at around 30 steals on the low end if he’s in the 525 PA range, and he could easily approach 35-plus stolen bases if he nears the 600 PA mark.

Marte doesn’t walk much but makes plenty of contact, which, when combined with his speed, consistently results in a high batting average. You could have some concern about his power, especially coming off a PED suspension, but he only needs to get to about 12 home runs to not be a killer in that stat. And you could be wary of his run and RBI totals given the direction Pittsburgh’s lineup is going (adios, McCutchen), but that should be offset somewhat by the fact that he’s assured of a spot in the top third of the order.

As a point of clarification, don’t take this article to mean you have to draft Marte or even Hoskins. Both guys are going just outside the top 50 in ADP, so we’re roughly talking about spending a fifth-round pick on them. The idea is that if you get to the fifth round and realize the players you’ve already drafted are collectively light on speed or power, Marte and Hoskins are options to correct course a bit without giving up too much ground in other categories.

To give you one late-round speed option, don’t forget about Delino Deshields. With Carlos Gomez out of the picture in Texas, DeShields is likely to have a regular role in center field this season. As a result, he has a healthy PA projection, and Steamer has him as just one of five guys projected to steal 30-plus bases. The other four are all being drafted in the top 60, but DeShields is being drafted outside the top 200. DeShields is a pure one-category contributor, but he’s going late enough to be considered a value despite his singularized production.

Runs

Steamer projections have 20 hitters projected to score 90 runs or more this season, and all but one of them has an ADP in the first four rounds of a 12-team mixed league. With an ADP in the sixth round, Christian Yelich is the only 90-plus projected run scorer going outside the top 45.

As you know, Yelich was traded to Milwaukee this offseason, and he’s projected to lead off for a Brewers lineup that should be better than they were last season. The Brewers finished 21st in offensive WAR last season per Fangraphs, but they’re projected to be closer to average this season with the additions of Yelich and Lorenzo Cain.

 A little bit later in drafts, let’s not forget about Adam Eaton. Eaton went down with an ACL tear early last season, but he played 150-plus games in each of the two seasons prior. Eaton is not yet 30, and he’s projected to hit lead off for a team that ranked sixth in wOBA last season. Eaton’s ADP is outside the top 150, which seems a bit low for a guy hitting in front of Turner, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman.

RBI

Outside of the extreme base stealers like Gordon and Turner, there’s not really a hitter going in the first three rounds that isn’t going contribute significantly to your RBI totals. For that reason, we’ll ignore some older-but-reliable RBI producers going in the 50-60 ADP range like Nelson Cruz and Edwin Encarnacion. When it comes time to draft those guys, you shouldn’t yet be too concerned about the RBI category unless of course you took Gordon or Turner.

It’s also worth mentioning Smoak again at this point as he’s again a good option to shore up the RBI category in the middle rounds without taking too big of a hit in batting average. However, it’s unlikely that you’ll be looking at Smoak purely because of the RBI category as home runs and RBI are highly correlated.

The real name we’ll focus on here is Rougned Odor. He was discussed at length in the aforementioned multi-category contributors article. You know his batting average sucked last year, but read the other article to see why the potential downside there isn’t enough to move Odor from consideration. Here we’ll focus on his RBI potential, which is significant if his batting average does in fact rise enough in 2018 to just be below average as opposed to a black hole.

In Odor’s rookie season in 2015 he saw plenty of the bottom third of the lineup. In 2016 he saw a bit of the bottom third but that was primarily in the first month of the season. Once he proved himself, Odor was briefly moved up into the top third mostly in May, but he landed in the middle third for most of the remainder of the season. Last season’s batting average disaster landed Odor in the bottom third for a significant portion of the season. But assuming he can get his average back at least to the .250 range, he should once again earn a promotion out of the bottom third. Baseball Prospectus currently has him projected to hit sixth for Texas this season.

The Rangers finished 15th in wOBA last season and are projected to have the 13th highest collective hitter WAR this season per Fangraphs. With 30-plus home run power as displayed in the last two seasons, Odor could easily get to 85 RBI or more if he can get on base enough to stay out of the bottom third of the order. With an ADP outside the top-100, Odor is a good option to shore up the RBI category if you’ve focused on speed and/or average early.

Batting Average

D.J. LeMahieu is the perfect player to discuss immediately after discussing Odor. Let’s say you didn’t focus on batting average early and thus Odor isn’t a good option for you in the 9th-11th rounds. In that case, LeMahieu is the perfect alternative at second base.

When weighted for the number of plate appearances a player is projected to have, LeMahieu is projected to have a more meaningful contribution to the batting average category than any other player this season. LeMahieu has hit over .300 in three consecutive seasons with at least 620 PA in each season. He’s projected to hit .310 this season with over 650 PA, which is literally about as good as it gets if you’re looking for batting average help.

Hitting almost exclusively second in the lineup for a team with a solid lineup in a hitter-friendly park means LeMahieu is going to score a well above average number of runs and not kill you in RBI despite his lack of pop. And he’ll run enough for a second baseman as speed isn’t necessarily something you have to get from the position. The lack of pop is his biggest downside, but if you’re concerned about shoring up your batting average in the 11th round, the odds are pretty good that it’s a result of you adding plenty of pop early in the draft.