Bargain Hunting For Speed and Power

I tossed out some hitters who could help a few weeks ago. Now I have some more, this time focusing on two specific needs: home runs and steals. All players are 50 percent owned or less in both Yahoo! and ESPN, with several under 10 percent for deep leagues.

Home runs

Brandon Moss ( Yahoo! 50 percent, ESPN 40 percent) – Moss is playing a lot and finally playing well for the Cardinals. He appears to be fully beyond those dark days of July, when a .204 BABIP helped him produce a 44 wRC+. ZiPS and Steamer both call for an average around .240 with five home runs the rest of the way. Moss is certainly capable of doing more in a month (he hit nine homers last May), so there’s upside too.

Khris Davis (38/37) – Davis is tied with Yoenis Cespedes for fifth in homers for the past 30 days. He looks like a great equivalent to the more heavily owned Mark Trumbo. The projections for the two are nearly identical, with Davis getting the slight edge in most categories. Davis has taken a step back in plate discipline from last season, with a rise in swinging strike and strikeout rates. He’s having kind of a weird season overall. He had 21 hits in August, 10 of which went for home runs. He has the lowest Hard% of his career, but his home run and flyball average distance is five feet better than last season. At this point, I’ll keep it simple and say he’s a solid bet for power in the final month. He’s worth a deeper look in the offseason.

Randal Grichuk (37/45) – Grichuk should return from his elbow injury next week and it’s worth a gander to see if he was let go in your league. He brings plenty of pop and even has four steals in 85 games. His .376 BABIP is higher than anything he produced above rookie ball in the minors, so average could be a risk moving forward.

Javier Baez (27/24) – Baez cut into his strikeout rate the second time through Triple-A, boosting hope he can avoid a repeat of last season’s disastrous 41.5 rate. The projections call for an average in the .230’s, while obviously he can bring tremendous speed and power in both middle infield spots… or something much, much worse. Certainly, few players you’ll add at this point have as much upside.

Franklin Gutierrez (14/18) – Man, injuries suck. At 44 games this season, Gutierrez has already seen his most action since 2011. At least he’s making the most of it. Gutierrez has hit .362 with eight home runs in the past 30 days.

Joey Gallo (13/9) – Gallo can play at third base, outfield and DH, which should help him see a fair amount of playing time, especially if he starts hitting. He didn’t get off to a great start in his first game back up, going hitless with a strikeout in each plate appearance. I think he’s worth an add if you have the bench space for a part-time player and need a power infusion.

Others: Avisail Garcia (48/25), Mitch Moreland (41/51), Trevor Plouffe (37/43), Ryan Howard (25/25), C.J. Cron (4/6), Domingo Santana (2/2)

Steals

Jean Segura (40,/41) – His overall results look solid compared to last season’s disappointment, though warning signs lurk. He’s swinging more than the last two seasons, yet making less contact. Unsurprisingly, his BB/K is less than half of what he’s done the past two seasons. Still, speed at shortstop can be tough to find at this point.

Ender Inciarte (26/44) – ZiPS projects five more steals from Inciarte, while his spot in the Arizona lineup means there will be runs a’plenty. Plus, there’s no glaring reason to think his average will sting. Speed, without much risk.

Delino DeShields (21/43) – DeShields can fly. And he can get on base. It’s selling him a little short as the underappreciated fantasy asset he is, but it’s really all it takes to be useful at this point. He’s third among second basemen in steals and ninth in runs, despite only finding 332 at-bats this season. I think there’s even room for his average to improve since he has excellent plate discipline. Only Joey Votto has a better O-Swing%.

Gregor Blanco (7/11) – In addition to his six steals over the past 30 days, Blanco has also scored an impressive 20 runs. As always, he can take a walk which helps aid the continued flow of steals and runs.

Ketel Marte (2/5) – Steamer has Marte and Segura down for nearly identical lines (ZiPS is less favorable toward Marte) and Marte’s superior on-base skills should give him more chances to run.

Jose Peraza (2/3) – Peraza has three steals in his three games with the Dodgers. Unfortunately, he’s playing a crowded infield and dealing with a minor hamstring injury. I’d make a quick add if there’s an injury in the Dodger infield, assuming he recovers from his injury as quickly as expected.

Others: Kevin Pillar (30/44), Byron Buxton (22/23), Carl Crawford (17/4), Anthony Gose (8/8), Dalton Pompey (8/2), Jace Peterson (7/16), Jarrod Dyson (4/4)