Looking over the last 30 days, I toured the diamond for a standout at every position who could be available and continue to produce over the final month of the season.

C: Omar Narvaez, CWS | 148 wRC+, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 12 R, 0 SB in 73 PA

The 26-year old backstop was supposed to be a backup, but then Welington Castillo was suspended 80 games for PEDs. Narvaez has made the most of his opportunity with a 127 wRC+ for the season. He’s more than just the last month of time, too, as he’s hitting .349/.433/.544 in 172 PA since June 1st after a paltry .169/.273/.234 line through May. Castillo’s suspension is done, but now he’s on the DL with shoulder inflammation. Narvaez is a solid C2 even when Castillo returns.

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In just a couple of days, rosters will expand, new faces will be recalled, and you’ll have a slew of choices for your deep league teams. But until that time, you’re still stuck with the same group of mehs. Here are two recommendations.

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Yesterday, I cherry-picked a group of hitters who suffered through miserable Aprils, only to return to form, or better, ever since the calendar flipped to May. It wasn’t the most convincing of arguments to trust the hitter’s entire body of work, but it did serve as a reminder that you shouldn’t make hasty moves based on such a small sample of performance. Today, I’ll discuss some hitters who had monster Aprils, but have predictably regressed to what we expected the rest of the way.

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In my chat last night, I felt I was not informed enough on a few players and I am going to examine a couple today, Luke Voit and Billy McKinney. Both are producing and playing regularly with their new teams. They could be a couple nice sleepers in deeper leagues over the season’s last month.

Luke Voit

I laughed when Yankees picked up Voit from the Cardinals at the trade deadline. I figured they’d make an impactful move, which wasn’t Voit. I’ve been wrong so far.

In his first 20 games with the Yankees, the 27-year-old first baseman started just four of them. In the last four, he’s started three going seven for 11 with three homers. On the season, he’s hitting .325/.400/.625 supported by a .444 BABIP.

Before getting too far along finding a value for Voit, a quick Greg Bird detour needs to be made. Simply, he has been horrible hitting just .199/.288/.390 on the season. The playoff-bound Yankees can’t expect to make it far in the playoff with a first baseman hitting like a catcher. I additionally checked to see if Bird was nursing an injury and nothing. It seems like Voit may have won the first base job. At least until reality sets in. While Gary Sanchez may return and play some first base, I will just assume Voit will have the full-time role until he doesn’t.

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With just a little more than a month of the season to go, it’s easy to forget who the April heroes and zeroes were. You complained when your supposed-to-be-star stunk up the joint in April, but now that it’s the end of August and he’s doing what you expected, you are thankful you didn’t foolishly drop the player. Let’s look at some of April’s biggest disappointments that have been as good as advertised since the calendar flipped to May. These examples remind us to trust the hitter’s entire body of work, not just the last couple of weeks.

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Wilmer Difo seems to be taking the Daniel Murphy trade in stride.

He received starts at second base in the first two games of the post-Murphy era in D.C., and he went 3 for 8 with each hit being for extra bases. (He also started for a third straight day on Thursday, though as of this writing, he is taking an 0-fer.) Difo has speed and can spray line drives, but power has not shown up as a key part of his skill set over his time in the majors. The flyball revolution is not for everyone, and Davey Martinez made sure to remind his 26-year-old infielder of that.
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It’s been a few weeks since I’ve dived into hitting prospects. I’m ready for a beating in the comments. Besides the overall list, I’m going to dive into a few sluggers who are showing some promise.

These projections are based off the player’s production (wRC+ which has stadium and league adjustments), their age for level, and a small amount of regression. I used to incorporate a position adjustment but FanGraphs source data changed and I haven’t coded in a solution.

Are

• A supplement to Eric’s and Kiley’s prospect rankings. This set utilizes stats, the hitter’s age compared to the level’s average age, and some regression to find potential overlooked prospects before they start showing up on major prospect lists.

Aren’t

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I feel like there hasn’t been nearly enough fanfare that we’re witnessing not just one amazing rookie campaign, but two in the National League East. Ronald Acuna was perhaps the most anticipated prospect to make his debut this season, while Juan Soto was decidedly less so. Although clearly a strong prospect, I admittedly never even heard of the guy. Maybe because each of them opened the season in the minors and have accrued just over 300 plate appearances, which is essentially half a season, you might not realize how incredible they have performed offensively. Their owners are certainly smiling ear to ear, but the more important question is which we should prefer to own next year. Obviously, we still have over a month of the season left and things could change. But let’s take an early stab at answering the question.

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Braves

• This lineup is scary consistent.

Brewers

• Travis Shaw is sitting against lefties with Hernan Perez slotting in. This season, Shaw is posting a .565 OPS against lefties and .890 against righties.
• Jonathan Schoop has really struggled (.163/.180/.204) since being traded to the Brewers. While he started regularly right after the trade, Orlando Arcia is cutting into his playing time.
• One outfield slot switches between Eric Thames and Ryan Braun with Thames always sitting against lefties.

Cardinals

• Since getting rid of Matheny, the lineup has been stable expect Tyler O’Neill has played right field since Jose Martinez is dealing with hip soreness.
• Second base isn’t set with Kolten Wong and Greg Garcia splitting time with Yairo Munoz on the DL.

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Angels

• The lineup is in flux with Mike Trout out, Ohtani DH-ing half the time, and Taylor Ward getting promoted.
• Since the All-Star break, David Fletcher has started every game and recently has either hit second or fifth. He has no power or speed but he’s a nice everyday accumulator.

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