With the end of the season in sight, this will be my final column of the year. Thanks for reading and keeping the comment section friendly, and I hope I did more good than harm to your teams.<\/p>\n
One more time, here are some names for the stretch run to give you a final boost.<\/p>\n
BuyCoby Mayo, 3B, BAL<\/p>\n
We have all grown jaded by Orioles prospects with big tools, but Mayo has top-end power, and that\u2019s a good place to start. How far that takes him is an open question. His 13.9% swinging-strike rate is workable, but his pitch selection leaves something to be desired. He is 700 plate appearances into his MLB career, so it\u2019s not crazy to dream on him improving to an average in the .240s with 30+ homers. In August, the pitch selection didn\u2019t improve, but his BABIP was .333, and that lifted his average to .269 for the month with five homers and five additional extra-base hits. Given his power, that BABIP doesn\u2019t seem crazy, though it is out of line with his career .270 figure. Either way, he\u2019ll give you a power boost.<\/p>\n
Kaelen Culpepper, SS, MIN<\/p>\n
Speaking of tools, the Twins\u2019 new shortstop has plenty to offer across the board. He doesn\u2019t have Mayo\u2019s thump, but he could go 20-HR\/20-SB with a .270 average over a full season. What he does for the balance of this year is anyone\u2019s guess, but it\u2019s hard to argue with the results so far. Expect more of a .260-.270 average going forward with the occasional homer and steal.<\/p>\n
Bryce Eldridge, 1B, SFG<\/p>\n
I wrote up Eldridge three months ago, and I still don\u2019t understand why he doesn\u2019t get more attention. He has power, a good eye and a nifty 10.7% swinging-strike rate. The result is a well-earned slash line of .261\/.353\/.451. The park and lineup drag down the overall line, but he\u2019s still a solid value.<\/p>\n
Tyler Mahle, SP, ATL<\/p>\n
He has been throwing more splitters since moving to Atlanta at the trade deadline, and in his five starts with the Braves, he\u2019s had a superb 27.4 K% and 4.3 BB%. The 96.9% strand rate is just a tad lucky, but even if he can\u2019t hold the post-deadline 1.48 ERA, his FIP and xFIP are both under 3.00.<\/p>\n
SellTrea Turner, SS, PHI<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still blazing fast and hits at the top of a solid lineup. If you want runs and steals, you might as well hang on to him. In the past month, however, he hasn\u2019t been hitting the ball as hard, and more of his contact has been in the air. That has resulted in a lot of popups and little power to compensate. He could straighten things out and look more Trea Turner-like, or this might be what we get. In shallow leagues, it\u2019s OK to drop him for someone who is putting up good numbers right now.<\/p>\n
Gleyber Torres, 2B, DET<\/p>\n
Since returning from injury after the All-Star break, Torres has slashed .239\/.327\/.370, and none of that looks unlucky. Maybe the .282 BABIP rises a bit, so if you could use a .250 average with some runs, he can do that for you, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n
Ranger Suarez, SP, BOS<\/p>\n
Since returning from the IL in July, Suarez\u2019s Stuff+ has slipped to 91 \u2014 he was at 95 before that \u2014 and it\u2019s taken both his peripherals and results down with it. His K-BB% dropped from 18.9% to merely 6.4%, and his ERA since returning is 5.01, compared to a prior mark of 3.15 (with his ERA estimators in close range to both figures). You\u2019re better off using his roster spot for streaming.<\/p>\n
HoldChristian Yelich, DH, MIL<\/p>\n
Since the All-Star break, Yelich is rocking a 15.5% barrel rate, but not seeing the results you\u2019d expect. He\u2019s hitting .234 with a .395 SLG, while Statcast gives him a .266 xBA and .466 xSLG. He could have a productive finish.<\/p>\n
Wyatt Langford, OF, TEX<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a rough month and an uneven year for Langford, but he still has a solid base to work from. He makes good swing decisions, doesn\u2019t whiff too much and has decent power and good speed. He\u2019s easier to work with in OBP leagues, but even in standard 5\u00d75, I think he can have a decent finish and still be a stud down the road.<\/p>\n
Shane Baz, SP, BAL<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been solid recently, outside of one clunker in Minnesota. He won\u2019t win your league for you, but he can help patch together a rotation if you\u2019re limping to the finish line. Since July, he has a 3.70 ERA and a 2.60 FIP.<\/p>\n
Where can you gain the most in the final month? Here are some players with low roster rates who can give you a category-specific boost.<\/p>\n
HittersBatting average
\nJeff McNeil, 1B\/2B, ATH
\nWalker Jenkins, OF, MIN: He only just arrived, so I offer zero guarantees here, but he had excellent plate skills in the minors.
\nPedro Ram\u00edrez, 2B\/3B, CHC: He has limited power, but good contact and speed.
\nKaelen Culpepper, SS, MIN: See \u201cBuys\u201d above.
\nHome runs
\nCoby Mayo, 3B, BAL; Bryce Eldridge, 1B, SFG: See \u201cBuys\u201d above.
\nHeriberto Hern\u00e1ndez, OF, MIA
\nChristian Encarnacion-Strand, 3B, BAL: The whiffs will catch up to him at some point, but he does damage on contact.
\nTyler Stephenson, C, CIN: Stephenson\u2019s a\u00a0solid hitter in a good park getting regular time in the DH spot.
\nSteals
\nJonah Cox, OF, SFG: He put up some truly silly numbers in the minors this year, hitting .415 with 34 steals in 55 games. Now he\u2019s somehow throwing up a .276\/.311\/.517 slash line while striking out nearly half the time. That looks like a fever dream, but he will steal at every opportunity. It\u2019s unclear how much he will play against righties, so he could be tricky to roster.
\nJung Hoo Lee, OF, SFG: Lee has fewer steals, but a more stable profile than his fellow Giant outfielder.
\nAndres Gim\u00e9nez, 2B\/SS, TOR
\nA.J. Ewing, OF, NYM: Ewing gets runs, steals and not much more for now.
\nRuns\/RBI
\nTommy Edman, 2B\/3B\/OF, LAD: The Dodgers\u2019 offense has been \u201cmeh\u201d in the second half, but it\u2019s still a nice lineup for a contact hitter to bank some stats.
\nJared Young, 1B\/OF, NYM: He won\u2019t keep this up forever, but he does damage against righties.
\nMauricio Dub\u00f3n, SS\/OF, ATL: He makes lots of contact on a good offense, and recently he\u2019s been hitting in the middle third of the lineup.
\nTim Tawa, 1B\/3B\/OF, ARI: Tawa\u2019s an average hitter who has been hot lately.
\nPitchersStrikeouts
\nGrayson Rodriguez, SP, LAA
\nMatthew Liberatore, SP, STL: He has upped his slider usage in his past four starts, and he\u2019s turned into a completely different pitcher, with a 34.8% K-rate in that stretch. He\u2019s also getting knocked around, with over two homers per nine innings. I don\u2019t know what to expect next, but he\u2019s at least an interesting dart throw.
\nKumar Rocker, SP, TEX: It\u2019s a bumpy ride, but he does get K\u2019s.
\nWins<\/p>\n
These pitchers offer up decent starts on decent teams.<\/p>\n
Jake Bennett, SP, BOS
\nAnthony Kay, SP, CHW
\nHayden Wesneski, SP, HOU
\nWalker Buehler, SP, SDP
\nERA<\/p>\n
These are my favorite of the arms I\u2019ve listed in this waiver-wire section.<\/p>\n
Andrew Painter, SP, PHI: The stuff has ticked up recently, which makes me believe the hit suppression isn\u2019t just good luck.
\nDavid Peterson, SP, CHC
\nWHIP
\nRandy Vasquez, SP, SDP
\nJanson Junk, SP, MIA: Strikeouts are few and far between, but so are the walks.<\/p>\n
Final note: Thanks again, everyone, and good luck in the final days. If you have young people in your life who enjoy the other type of fantasy writing, keep an eye out for my debut novel, \u201cCharlie and the Not-a-Cat\u201d \u2014 publishing date to be announced soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the end of the season in sight, this will be my final column of the year. Thanks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[21850,363,99],"class_list":["post-833051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-fantasy-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}