It’s Category Impact day here at Fantasy Alarm! This article provides you with four players that can help win you some niche categories in your seasonal leagues. Daily is fun and all, but the satisfaction of winning your season long league is a truly unique feeling. When playing DFS, you only have to be the best for one day, whereas in seasonal formats, you need to be good for a long period of time. Without releasing too much information, this article features two Mets to help you out, a speedy outfielder in San Diego and a white-hot third baseman out west. Dying for the names of these players? Well, read on or subscribe. It’s never too late!

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Jose Reyes, SS NYM— A lengthy suspension, Trevor Story’s emergence and the Rockies DFA’ing Reyes led to his return to the Big Apple. The Mets welcomed him back and albeit a slow start through his first four games, there are some things to like with the speedy shortstop. Of his four hits, three have gone for extra bases, including one that sailed over the fences for his lone home run of the season. He still has shortstop eligibility, but if you need a third baseman, he should meet the prerequisites in the near future.  The switch-hitting shortstop has hit lefties and righties almost equally throughout his career, meaning you don’t have to worry about any split disadvantages with him. Reyes has to shake off some rust here in the early going, but there’s no reason he can’t steal 10 bases and hit five home runs in the second half of the season.

Travis Jankowski, OF SDP— Jankowski’s .247 batting average isn’t anything to get excited about, however, his speed and ability to cross home plate is worth noting. He has 13 stolen bases in just 61 games this season, an average of one stolen base every 4.70 games. His speed score of 8.7 leads all players with 100 plate appearances and is considered excellent. As we all know, the key to racking up the stolen bases is getting on base. His current OBP sits at .360, which is excellent, but if he’s only batting .247, why is it so high? Jankowski has an excellent understanding of the strike zone. His O-Swing percentage is 22.3 percent, meaning that he only chases pitches 22.3 percent of the time, which is pretty darn good. His walk rate of 14.7 percent ranks 18th in all of baseball among batters with at least 100 plate appearances. However, with all of the optimism and positive statistics, there are two big knocks on Jankowski.

  1. His current K% of 29.3 percent is awful.
  2. He only plays when the Padres are facing a right-hander.

Platoon players are often times annoying to use in seasonal leagues, but with his ability to steal bases, he’s a good kind of annoying.

Yunel Escobar, LAA 3B— Over the last 15 days, Escobar is hitting .455 (15-for-33) with six RBI, three runs scored and only five strikeouts. Sure, he isn’t doing much in the counting stats, but every fantasy team is full of niche players. People roster Billy Hamilton to win steals. People play guys like Chris Carter or Mike Napoli, knowing that they are only really going to provide power. Well, in this case, you’re going to roster Escobar to boost your batting average, or keep it afloat. That .327 batting average is aided by a lofty .368 BABIP, but the majority of his numbers are right on pace from last year, where he hit .314 for the Washington Nationals in 139 games. Can Escobar sustain this high average? Maybe not this high, but he’s a .300+ hitter for sure. Only 28 hitters in baseball chase fewer pitches out of the zone than Escobar, so as long as he continues to hit the pitches he wants to hit, you should enjoy the quality hit numbers and consistent batting average from him. He isn’t the sexy addition, but he is the right one.

Addison Reed, RP NYM— Jeurys Familia may have the closing gig locked down in New York, but Reed is extremely valuable in fantasy circles, too. If your league values holds, Reed is even more valuable. He currently is tied for fourth in Major League Baseball with 19 holds. When you compare his numbers this season to his career marks, you really see just how successful he’s been thus far. In short, his strikeouts are up and the walks down, which is usually a lethal combination for any pitcher in baseball. Reed has primarily lived off his fastball and opposing batters are hitting just .208 against it. Then, when he doesn’t throw his low-to-mid 90s-fastball, he makes you look silly with a mid-80s slider. Opposing batter have recorded five hits off that slider, compared to 18 strikeouts. Yeah, you read that right. Unless Familia goes down with an injury, Reed won’t see more than the occasional save opportunity, but he’s going to rack up holds and improve your team’s ratios. Buy in.