Fantasy Baseball Category Impact: July 2

Everyone loves Saturdays, right? While you’re reading this, I’m in Pittsburgh enjoying the Kenny Chesney concert. If you’re jealous, well, I can’t blame you. Anyway, while I’m grooving out in Pittsburgh, Angel Pagan continues to hit in San Francisco, while Justin Bour is doing the same in Miami. Daniel Norris is striking out batters at an excellent clip in Detroit, but can it last? Continue reading and you shall receive the information for which you seek.

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Angel Pagan, OF SF— Over the past seven days, Pagan has been one of the hottest hitters on the planet. He’s hitting .458 (11-for-24) with six RBI, four runs scored and one stolen base. He’s punched out just twice in that span and he continues to be a positive asset to your team’s batting average. Can he sustain this near-.300 batting average? Absolutely he can. He’s hitting .295 on the season and his current BABIP of .329 is only 10 points above his career mark. Pagan doesn’t strikeout and doesn’t chase pitches out of the strike zone, which is obviously a great combination for a major league hitter. Also, his .119 ISO would be his highest since posting a .132 mark back when he played just 71 games in 2013. The switch-hitting outfielder also has seven stolen bases on the year, so he can also make an impact there for your team. In short, he’s going to give you a quality average, some runs and a stolen base here or there. He’s more than serviceable OF4 or OF5 moving forward.

Justin Bour, 1B MIA— He may continue to sit against southpaws, but even so, Bour is worthy of a roster spot. He’s just outside of the top-10 players at his position, but the numbers are there for the left-handed hitting first baseman. As of Thursday evening, he’s hitting .271 on the season with 15 home runs, 46 RBI and 29 runs scored. The Miami first baseman homered 23 times in 129 games last season and on average, he swatted a home run once every 17.78 at-bats. How does that compare to this season you ask? Well, this season he’s averaging a home run once every 14.64 at-bats, a truly great number. Barring an injury, he should be able to surpass last year’s power numbers and post his best season as a professional. He’s making hard contact 38.3 percent of the time, which would be a career high for the third year first baseman. Also, take this into consideration:

Bour should also be able to maintain a relatively high batting average because he’s spreading the ball around the field much more than he ever has before. As you can see from the table above, he’s utilizing the opposite third of the field much more than he ever has before. Add the first baseman to your team and enjoy the production.

Daniel Norris, SP DET— It’s a small sample size, but there is a lot to like with the Detroit southpaw. However, there are a few things that catch the eye in a negative manner. His 2.45 HR/9 would be the highest of his career, as would the .355 BABIP. He’s also generating less ground balls than he has in recent seasons. On the other hand, his 10.64 K/9 would shatter his previous season best (6.75 in 2015) and he’s doing a much better job limiting the walks (1.64 BB/9). He’s throwing his fastball and slider more than one mile per hour harder and his hard hit percentage is four points below his career mark. There’s a lot of positivity surrounding the left-hander, but keep in mind that it’s a very small sample size. He’s struggled with efficiency thus far, which has really negated him from getting deeper into ball games. He hasn’t pitched more than five innings in a start this season, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting up worthwhile numbers. He struck out eight Marlins in just five innings in his last start, en route to getting his first win of the season. Norris is owned in under seven percent of ESPN fantasy leagues, so he’s likely available in free agency of your league. Go add him.