I’M BAAAAACKK!

I have returned from my hiatus due to getting married and going on our mini-moon, so while there was no Twitter poll this week, I decided to go on my own and determine what we needed help with this week. After Greg jumped in for me last week (shoutout @gjewett9 on Twitter), let’s talk about batting average!

It’s time to take a look at some guys that can give us a boost in the batting average department, whether it be because they are hot right now, or some peripherals indicate a jump in batting average is starting to happen or forthcoming. In this edition, we get not one, but TWO catchers, and two super-utility guys that while they are hot at the dish, can be big time producers in batting average and speed! 

Joey Bart , SFG

Bart was in the first edition of category impact this year and I knew I’d be coming back to him at some point, especially when he didn’t open the year with the big league club. He has just four hits in his last 17 at-bats, and is coming off a rough Thursday evening against the Dodgers, but the young backstop oozes fantasy potential. For his career at the minor league level, he hit .284 with 29 home runs and 88 RBI in 130 games and in a limited sample size at the big league level, his 20 percent barrel rate and 91.3 mph exit velocity are well above average, especially at his position. Sure, he’s hitting just .182 but his .220 xBA and the aforementioned metrics don’t indicate a sub-.200 hitter for long.

He’s not owned in enough leagues and as the backstop of the future for the Giants, they are going to let him figure things out, and it’s only a matter of time until he does.

Jon Berti, MIA

Berti has eligibility at just about every position, or so it seems, and speed is his greatest asset for fantasy owners. However, he’s still criminally under owned and he’s hitting .357 over the past week! The Miami speedster has a base knock in six of the last seven games he’s played and from the chart below, you’ll see that his xBA (Expected batting average) is trending in the right direction.

Sure, it’s still just slightly above league average, but for a guy who doesn’t make a ton of hard contact and lives off speed, it’s a nice improvement, and there’s been a steady improvement for the 30-year-old jack-of-all-trades.

His biggest addition to your fantasy team is the stolen base department, but with that arrow trending up in terms of xBA, he could be a nice boost for batting average for the time being.

Jose Trevino , TEX

Not one, but TWO catchers in this article. Wow! That might be the first time that’s happened, and I’ve been writing this article for three or four years now! Trevino is hitting .333 on the year and has continued to progress in the order. He’s made 44 plate appearances this season, and has hit third, fifth, sixth, eight and ninth. In fact, he’s hitting .290 or better in all of those spots except for third, where he’s just 1-for-4. He has the 11th-highest average exit velocity on fly balls and line drives amongst catchers and his xBA of .310 is the 5th-highest amongst catchers with at least 25 plate appearances. He’s trailing only Salvador Perez , Travis d’Arnaud, James McCann and Austin Nola in the latter.

CATCHER LOVE!

Mauricio Dubón ,SFG

A second San Francisco Giant! Wowza! Dubon has cooled off a bit of late, hitting under .275 over the past week, but from August 14th to August 21st, he registered at least one base knock in each game (minus an 0-for-1 performance) and had at least two hits in three of those contests. I was very high on him coming into the season, and while his overall stat line is at a meager .264, his line drive percentage and hard contact rate are well up in August compared to their July marks.

I hope you didn’t lose faith in Dubon! The best is still yet to come, especially in some of the other categories, but enjoy the nice average now!

Honorable Mention: Brad Miller , Jake Cronenworth (likely owned in your league)

Follow me on Twitter (@colbyrconway) and be sure to vote in next week’s poll! I promise there will be one