2014 seemed like a wasteland for the hot corner, and at the arbitrary mid-way point which isn’t a mid-way point at all, we find third base surprisingly deep. No longer is there a top tier with some guy named Miguel standing alone, far above all other tiers. There are four bonafide studs at third base, and you can drill down all the way into the teens and still find very good production. Names like Evan Longoria, Kyle Seager, Adrian Beltre, Pablo Sandoval don’t even crack the top-10 anymore and holy-crap-I-can’t-believe-I’m-going-to-say-it but Alex Rodriguez is relevant again. What a year.

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Our journey to the far reaches of the fantasy dumpster take us to two National Leaguers who have recently come into playing time and are being introduced to owners for the first time. As usual, the players listed in this column are better suited for mono leagues, and the ownership percentages are by way of CBS.
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The Indians and the Orioles entered 2015 with higher expectations than the mediocre showings they’ve had so far this year. So it comes as no surprise that both teams have made some roster shakeups in June, calling up our two candidates this week who will get a shot to prove they can not just help their clubs, but fantasy owners as well. As usual, the players highlighted in this column are better suited toward mono leagues, and the ownership percentages are by way of CBS.
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Would it be too awful a pun (or half-pun) to say this week’s column is a tribute to fallen angels? Probably, so I’ll rephrase: Here are two former full-time players who lost their jobs after some struggles but have now returned to regular playing time. As usual, the players featured in this column are better suited for mono leagues, and the ownership percentages are by way of CBS.
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We’re making our way around the diamond with our updated rankings and today we are onto the hot corner. Here are the positions we’ve done so far and you can also access them via the Positional Rankings in the right sidebar:

• Catchers
• First Basemen
• Second Basemen
• Shortstops

If you feel we missed someone, please let us know in the comments.

FYI: the table is sortable! Also, these are updated as of 6:20p CT on June 1st w/Beltre & Gallo news as well as adding Paredes into the mix.
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Despite my deep interest (obsession) with baseball, the end of the season always seems to bring a moment or two where I look at the final line of a player and think, really? When it’s just the end of May and players have a handful of home runs or a steals or RBI, you name it, it’s not always obvious that they’re actually producing at a fairly solid clip. Two players whose names aren’t new to anyone kind of fit this description right now — and are widely available in most standard formats: Chase Headley and Trevor Plouffe.

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Craving some serious deep league action? Look no further as I have another one of those popular 0% ownership names!

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It’s tricky to write about batted ball mix changes, for the most part. If you’re talking push and pull, adding the ability to go the other way can increase your batting average, sure. But it can also decrease your power output. Ground balls and fly balls act the same way — there’s really an ideal mix for each hitter, and we’re trying to figure out just as much as they are which is the best way forward.

There’s one batted ball type that just plain sucks, though. The pop-up. The infield fly.

98.5% of the time, that’s an out. It’s a bad idea, plain and simple.

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The first few weeks of the season is dangerous territory to be making any kind of declarations, as you dedicated minions of the small sample size know all too well. Third base has typically been my beat, and I’m certainly not interested in ringing the alarm of Adrian Beltre‘s .158 batting average nor am I bandwagoning onto Luis Valbuena’s .356 ISO. Players have strong starts, they have cold starts, our job is to remember the whole marathon versus sprint metaphor.

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We’re going to take our dumpster dive to the Big Apple this week and look at two players who have seen some significant playing time in the early going and are already providing help to owners. As a note, most of the players discussed in this column are better suited for mono leagues, and the ownership percentages come from CBS.
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