Have Some Pridie, Young: NL Outfielders

It’s the death throes of the fantasy season, but some of you are still looking for every single at-bat you can get. Here are a couple players that might get you an extra hit or run. Who knows, it could make a difference!

Jason Pridie (0% owned)
You know the Mets’ season has taken an even sharper turn for the worse when their announcers are stupefied by something. But when Angel Pagan brained himself on a swing last week… well.. Let’s let the video speak for itself:

Yeah. Love the incredulity in his voice. Well, the Mets’ pain could be your deep-league gain, as backup center fielder Jason Pridie should get more at-bats now. The strange thing about Pridie is that his major league strikeout rates have been so out of whack with his minor league ones. In over 4000 plate appearances (!) in the minor leagues, he had an 18.9% strikeout rate. His major league rate is 25.8%, but it only comes in 229 PAs. Suppose he finds his old strikeout rate, then Pridie might be a player with a mediocre batting average (.275 over his MiLB career) and wheels. But he has to strike out less in order to better his current .230 major league batting average, and that’s no guarantee. Wait, what? More like this: in the next two days he might get you a hit and a stolen base. Good luck!

Eric Young, Jr. (7% owned)
Here again, injury has felled the starter and allowed room for a late-season push from the backup. Carlos Gonzalez didn’t do anything embarrassing while injuring his wrist, but he’s still out for the season. That means junior Young is getting all the starts in left field. There isn’t much new ground to break with young, even if he only has 466 PAs of major league experience. He’s all about his legs (career 7.5 speed score, 5.0 is average). With absolutely no power (.046 career ISO), his plate discipline becomes of tantamount importance. The good news is that he walks (10.1% career) and doesn’t strike out much (16.5% career). All those trends continue this year. Unfortunately, Young goes into San Francisco for the final two games. The Giants have caught 32% of runners this year, good for fifth in the NL. Well, at least Wednesday’s starter, Matt Cain, has given up 18 steals this year. Here we are again. In the next two games, Young might get you a hit and a stolen base! Good luck.