The loss of a couple of big-name first basemen – one of whom is actually a damn good hitter and major fantasy baseball asset – for the rest of the season, or close to it, has turned rotisserie and head-to-head attention to alternatives at the position. A young buck at the cold corner has plenty of room to grow – and may have hit a spurt.

A division-leading club has lost one of its top starters for at least a couple of weeks. The fill-in could be the bum that this team previously booted from the rotation. But they know what he’s about, so why shouldn’t they go with another option?

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A couple of weeks ago, I released an updated list of hitters and their xBABIP values. After it was released I got a request for the pitcher xBABIP values. The xBABIP values are generated by using the hard hit batted ball data from Inside Edge. I have gone ahead and run the values and listed them below with some comments on a couple starting pitchers.

A few notes on the data. First, I have not tested it with pitchers to see if the data correlates better season-to-season than regular BABIP. I just applied the hitter’s formula to pitchers. Additionally, I used the league average Speed Score in the equation instead of adjusting it for each batter.

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Episode 150

The latest episode of “The Sleeper and the Bust” is now live!

Eno Sarris and Nicholas Minnix discuss Javier Baez, Steven Souza, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Mike Carp, Jon Singleton, Brian Flynn and Andrew Heaney, Ubaldo Jimenez, Brandon McCarthy, Vance Worley, and Jesse Hahn.

As usual, don’t hesitate to tweet us or comment with fantasy questions so that we may answer them on our next episode.

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Okay, in any sort of keeper or dynasty situation, the titular question is ridiculous of course. The recently promoted Javier Baez has all the pedigree, power and speed, and Yangervis Solarte is a 27-year-old non-prospect with few tools and a total lack of position. Game over.

But in redraft leagues, we’re only interested in what Solarte and Baez will do the rest of the way. And in Yahoo, they’re both shortstops that are available in more than three-quarters of the leagues out there. So… is it still obvious?

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When one opens a fresh pack of crayons, the scent of those waxy art sticks is often what hits him or her first. If you need or just prefer markers, especially the permanent kind, then you may have enjoyed those whiffs a little more than most of your classmates. Maybe you didn’t even like to color.

It’s back-to-school time, kids. (Of course, according to the average merchant, that period began in early July.) I don’t have any, myself – children, that is, not crayons – so this is more of an opportunity to feel a little nostalgic. Crayons, like catchers, are essential supplies.

The eight classic colors set the catchers apart. No hierarchy from me, just the order in which they appear in an unopened box, from left to right. You, on the other hand, might be inclined to arrange the colors by favorite to least favorite … flavor. Taste the rainbow, little Jimmy.

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Yesterday, I shared the names of four speedsters who are available in the vast majority of leagues played on CBS. Naturally today, I shift my focus onto the power guys. Unlike the speed demons, it’s more difficult to find strong sources of power available for free. But they might be there if you dig deep enough. Here are three names for your consideration.

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• I have had a couple people ask if Adam Wainwright is hurt. Going through some signs, he may just be.

First, he is in the window for needing a second Tommy John surgery after his one in 2011. Here is a description of when a second operation is needed from some of my previous work.

In the 2013 THT Annual, we found pitchers had about 650 innings between their first and second procedure, though the sample size was miniscule. Recently, I ran a brief study using the up-to-date TJS database and found those pitchers who had their first TJS from before 2011 averaged 4.5 years until they needed to go under the knife again, with a median time of 4.0 years. These numbers are in the ballpark of the 650 innings value we originally found.

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This week’s column is about a surprisingly good change-up. Because as Kyle Gibson ascended the ranks in Minnesota’s farm system, there were questions about his change piece. He’s thrown over 300 of them now, and it looks good, and now the questions have changed. The new question may be harder to answer.

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If you’d like to check out my tiered second-base rankings from last month, click here.

TIER ONE

Jose Altuve
Anthony Rendon
Robinson Cano

Rendon’s awful month of May sure does feel like it happened ages ago. Since the calendar turned over to June, Rendon has hit eight homers and stolen eight bases, with a .294/.353/.498 slash. He also leads the entire National League in runs scored for the season. Rendon is a true five-category fantasy stud, and moves up from Tier Two into Tier One this month.

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With about two months left in the season, we all know what our team’s strengths and weaknesses are and where we could gain and lose points in each of the standings categories. I’ve said this in the past and will say it again — your place in the various categories is much more important when deciding on your weekly active roster then what a player’s overall value is in a vacuum. It’s rather obvious, but it bears repeating. If you’re first in homers and RBIs by a substantial margin, benching the likes of Brandon Moss or Chris Carter are easily justifiable. If you need speed, these four guys are available in the majority of leagues, and more than 50% of those on CBS.

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